title: The multiple mini-interview for selecting medical residents: first experience in the Middle East region.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Numerous studies have shown that multiple mini-interviews (MMI) provides a standard, fair, and more reliable method for assessing applicants. This article presents the first MMI experience for selection of medical residents in the Middle East culture and an Arab country.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2012, we started using the MMI in interviewing applicants to the residency program of Dubai Health Authority. This interview process consisted of eight, eight-minute structured interview scenarios. Applicants rotated through the stations, each with its own interviewer and scenario. They read the scenario and were requested to discuss the issues with the interviewers. Sociodemographic and station assessment data provided for each applicant were analyzed to determine whether the MMI was a reliable assessment of the non-clinical attributes in the present setting of an Arab country.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and eighty-seven candidates from 27 different countries were interviewed for Dubai Residency Training Program using MMI. They were graduates of 5 medical universities within United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 60 different universities outside UAE. With this applicant's pool, a MMI with eight stations, produced absolute and relative reliability of 0.8 and 0.81, respectively. The person × station interaction contributed 63% of the variance components, the person contributed 34% of the variance components, and the station contributed 2% of the variance components.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MMI has been used in numerous universities in English speaking countries. The MMI evaluates non-clinical attributes and this study provides further evidence for its reliability but in a different country and culture. The MMI offers a fair and more reliable assessment of applicants to medical residency programs. The present data show that this assessment technique applied in a non-western country and Arab culture still produced reliable results.
authors.affiliation: Dubai Health Authority, United Arab Emirates .
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Khalil Ibrahim
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Qayed
authors.forename: Mahera
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdulrahman
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000592:standards; D008877:Middle East; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult