Workshop helps prepare students for careers in medicine

Twenty students on various health profession tracks had the opportunity on Sunday, April 15, to participate in a workshop on Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs) at the Gerald L. Francis Center.

The event was a collaboration between the Student Professional Development Center, the School of Health Sciences, and the Health Professions Advising Committee.

​The workshop was designed to help prepare and educate Elon students as they consider careers in medicine. Every year, more schools in health professions including medical, dental, physician assistant, physical and occupational therapy, pharmacy and nursing are moving away from traditional interviews and toward the MMI format instead.

Originally conceived and developed at the DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, MMIs are short interview sessions (typically about 8 minutes) that happen in rapid succession and can include traditional interview questions, role-playing scenarios, problem-solving, and/or writing stations.

​Candidates move through seven to 10 stations in different rooms, where they find instructions on the door and are given two minutes to compose a response or plan before entering the room. They are evaluated after each station by different people in order to obtain a more well-rounded impression of the student.

Elon students who participated in the event attended an opening presentation in which they learned the history and rationale behind MMIs and about the format of a typical session. Afterward, they participated in three 15-minute stations which, unlike a real MMI session, included feedback at the end of each one.

​After cycling through the stations, students met again as a group to debrief and to ask questions. Facilitators at the stations included standardized patients employed by the university to work in simulated medical situations with students in Elon’s Doctor of Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant programs, as well as staff from the SPDC and the School of Health Sciences. Sessions were led by René Jackson, associate director of career services for graduate school programs in the SPDC, and Nita Skillman director of the client and standardized patient program in the School of Health Sciences.

Other staff members assisting in the event include Brooke Buffington, Ross Wade, and Nancy Carpenter from the SPDC, and Melissa Scales from the DPT program in the School of Health Sciences.