Simulation as Soothsayer: Simulated Surgical Skills MMIs During Residency Interviews are Associated With First Year Residency Performance.

Objective: The main consideration during residency recruitment is identifying applicants who will succeed during residency. However, few studies have identified applicant characteristics that are associated with competency development during residency, such as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education milestones. As mini multiple interviews (MMIs) can be used to assess various competencies, we aimed to determine if simulated surgical skills MMI scores during a general surgery residency interview were associated with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education milestone ratings at the conclusion of intern year.

Design: Retrospective cohort study. Interns' Step 1 and 2 clinical knowledge (CK) scores, interview day simulated surgical skills MMI overall score, traditional faculty interview scores, average overall milestone ratings in the spring of residency, and intern American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) percentile scores were gathered. Two multiple linear regression were performed analyzing the association between Step 1, Step 2 CK, MMI, and traditional faculty interview scores with (1) average overall milestone rating and (2) ABSITE percentile scores, controlling for categorical/preliminary intern classification.

Setting: One academic medical center PARTICIPANTS: General surgery interns matriculating in 2020-2021 RESULTS: Nineteen interns were included. Multiple linear regression revealed that higher overall simulated surgical skills MMI score was associated with higher average milestone ratings (β = .45, p = 0.03) and higher ABSITE score (β = .43, p = 0.02) while neither Step 1, Step 2 CK, nor faculty interview scores were significantly associated with average milestone ratings.

Conclusions: Surgical residency programs invest a tremendous amount of effort into training residents, thus metrics for predicting applicants that will succeed are needed. Higher scores on a simulated surgical skills MMIs are associated with higher milestone ratings 1 year into residency and higher intern ABSITE percentiles. These results indicate a noteworthy method, simulated surgical skills MMIs, as an additional metric that may select residents that will have early success in residency.