Self-Assessment in General Surgery Applicants: An Insight Into Interview Performance.

Introduction: Selecting medical students for residency is a competitive process, with a narrow range of scores separating middle-ranked applicants. Self-assessment is a fundamental skill for any competent physician with a demonstrated correlation to diagnostic ability, examination scores, and technical skills, but has yet to be investigated in residency selection. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-assessment and interview performance as a potential adjunct to discriminate between applicants.

Methods: At the University of Ottawa in 2020, 55 applicants completed a 9-station interview circuit assessing different characteristics or skills important for a career in general surgery, followed by a self-assessment questionnaire evaluating their perceived performance at each station. Pearson's correlation was used to determine the relationship between self-assessment scores (SASs) and interviewer scores (ISs).

Results: There was a negative correlation between SASs and ISs for all interview stations. High performers underestimated their interview performance, and low performers overestimated their performance. Seven of the nine stations reached statistical significance (r = 0.60-0.73, P < 0.001). There was significant variability in the SAS of middle-ranked applicants, with a range three times greater than the range of ISs and demonstrating distinct self-assessment skills in candidates with very similar scores.

Conclusions: Although we strive to select applicants who will succeed in residency to become competent physicians, self-assessment skills may be a useful adjunct during the interview process to assist in discriminating between applicants with similar scores.