Multiple Mini Interview

Multiple Mini Interview, or MMI, was first introduced by McMaster’s Michael DeGroote School of Medicine after recognizing the low predictive value of the traditional interview on future medical school performance.

In 2001, McMaster began a small pilot study to determine the effectiveness of multiple mini interview. The high predictive value and reliability (0.81) of the test led the researchers to organize a larger study in 2002. The predictive and reliability of the tests remained high and evidence for the predictive capacity of future success was also demonstrated by examining the candidate’s performance on licensing exams. In short, the Multiple Mini Interviews have been shown to be the strongest predictor of future clinical performance, professional conduct, etc. (1-3). Since 2008, the MMI has been used as the standard interview method by medical schools in Canada, United States, Australia and Israel (4-6).

Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) Stations:

MMIs consist of a number stations that are organized in a circuit format similar to a ‘bell-ringer’ examination. Every station is approximately 8-10 minutes in duration, with a specific medical school interview question/scenario. It should be kept in mind that each station would test a different component of the candidates’ soft skills and their ethical and moral decision making capacity. For instance, one station may test the candidate’s interpersonal skills while another station may test his/her knowledge of professional ethics and boundaries. At each station there will be a stem question with regard to the scenario, an interviewer who will ask other probing questions based on the scenario, and a standardized scoring sheet that the interviewers mark from 1-10 indicating each applicant score as as “outstanding”, “above average”, “satisfactory”, “less suitable”, or "unsuitable" relative to other applicants. The interviewers are instructed to evaluate each applicant based on:

a) Communications skills
b) The strength of the arguments displayed
c) The applicant's suitability for the medical profession

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Official Score Sheet Used By McMaster:

To learn more about Multiple Mini Interviews and to view the official training manual and score sheet for interviewers click here to go to McMaster's website.

Here is the list of schools in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia that utilize the multiple mini interview:

United States:

Albany Medical College
Central Michigan University College of Medicine
Cooper/Rowan School of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
New York Medical College
Oregon Health and Science University
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Stanford Medical School
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
New York University School of Medicine
Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine
University of Alabama School of Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine
University of California Davis School of Medicine
University of California Riverside School of Medicine
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
University of Massachusetts Medical School
University of Mississippi School of Medicine
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Western Michigan University School of Medicine

Canada:

McMaster University Medical School
Queens University
McGill University
UBC Faculty of Medicine
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
University of Alberta
University of Calgary
University of Montreal
Dalhousie University
University of Sherbrooke
University of Laval
University of Manitoba

United Kingdom:

University of St Andrews School of Medicine
St George's, University of London
University of Leeds
University of East Anglia
University of Birmingham
University of Dundee
University of Aberdeen
Keele University
University of Leicester
University of Manchester
Queen's University Belfast
Cambridge University (Graduate course)

Australia:

University of Sydney
University of Notre Dame Australia
University of Wollongong
Australian National University
University of Melbourne
Monash University
Deakin University
Griffith University
University of Western Sydney
Newcastle University
Bond University

References:

1. Barrick MR, Mount MK. The Big 5 personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology 1991, 44:1-26.

2. Eva KW, Reiter HI, Rosenfeld J, Norman GR. The relationship between interviewer characteristics and ratings assigned during a Multiple Mini-Interview. Academic Medicine, 2004 Jun; 79(6):602.9.

3. Dodson M, Crotty B, Prideaux D, Carne R, Ward A, de Leeuw E. The multiple mini-interview: how long is long enough? Med Educ. 2009 Feb;43(2):168-74.

4. Eva KW, Reiter HI, Rosenfeld J, Norman GR. The ability of the Multiple Mini-Interview to predict pre-clerkship performance in medical school. Academic Medicine, 2004, Oct; 79(10 Suppl): S40-2.

5. Reiter HI, Eva KW, Rosenfeld J, Norman GR. Multiple Mini-Interview Predicts for Clinical Clerkship Performance, National Licensure Examination Performance. Med Educ. 2007 Apr;41(4):378-84.

6. Eva KW, Reiter HI, Trinh K, Wasi P, Rosenfeld J, Norman GR. Predictive validity of the multiple mini-interview for selecting medical trainees. Accepted for publication January 2009 in Medical Education.