title: Selecting specialist registrars by station interview.
abstract: Appointments to the specialist registrar (SpR) grade depend almost entirely on performance at interview, yet standard panel interviews do not directly assess the competences required of a medical trainee. In this study, station interviews were used to select neurology SpRs. Eighteen candidates were assessed in three interviews, each involving three stations: a curriculum vitae (CV)-based interview, an interview with a simulated patient, and a discussion of scenarios based upon teaching, audit and research. Two or three assessors at each station ranked candidates independently before discussing the pooled rankings and reading written references. The CV-based interview rankings (resembling a traditional panel interview) correlated less well with the overall rankings (r=0.54) than did research (r=0.83), information giving (r=0.75), audit (r=0.70) or teaching presentation (r=0.59). Station interviews appear fairer (providing more time, more independent examiners, fresh starts at each station), although they require more planning and expense. Competency-based assessments should be more widely used in selecting medical trainees.
authors.affiliation: South Wales Neurology Rotation. SmithPE@cardiff.ac.uk
authors.forename: P E M
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: F D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Dunstan
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wiles
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004501:Education, Medical; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000379:methods*; D010820:Physicians; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D013038:Specialization; D006113:United Kingdom