CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 6

28 | 2018 | Issue 6 I ssues and P eople You’re looking for people who have the potential to think, act and shine as dentists. It’s more than just clinical psychomotor/ technical skills.” – Dr. Leandra Best she introduced a new recruitment format in 2012 for DMD applicants: each candidate rotates alone through eight 10-minute interviews with a different lone faculty volunteer each time. It was felt that the MI technique, combined with Best’s problem-based learning sessions, would build a solid psychological, professional and ethical profile of a candidate, increasing the chances of accepting a stellar, well- rounded candidate. Observing how people behave both on their own in an MI and in a group PBL setting is invaluable, Gardner and Best both agree. Otherwise, a standard interview can focus on someone’s well-crafted persona and academic achievements, rather than picking up on character flaws. For example, Gardner points out, a brilliant academic student who’s a sports hero might “put on a show” and manipulate a single interviewer, trying to read the questioner’s face and respond accordingly. This interaction wouldn’t reveal that he balks at authority and doesn’t take criticism well. Similarly, a caring introvert might be overlooked. The skilfully designed scenarios used in both MI and problem-based learning help to prevent such limited assessments and to unearth less desirable qualities. Each MI session addresses specific traits such as communication abilities, demeanour, empathy and sympathy. Immediately after each MI, the interviewers rank every applicant between 1 and 7, with 7 as the “most appropriate” response and 1 as “least appropriate.” If a candidate scores high in one session and very low in another, the overall effect in their calibrated score is minimal, Gardner says. Of nine other dentistry schools in Canada, four use the MI process, four use the Canadian Dental Association standard structured interview, and one uses a semi-structured format, Gardner says. The standard process involves situational or behavioural questions from two to three trained interviewers, each question designed Problem-based learning, offered at UBC Dentistry for more than two decades, encourages student-driven inquiry and active participation. It is designed to help students develop self- motivated, lifelong learning skills and to use “critical and analytical thinking, to assess, diagnose and manage complex cases,” according to a fall 2010 edition of Impressions . Best points out some of the consid- erable benefits this assessment offers compared to standardized formats: • The carefully designed problems are created to evoke empathy, professionalism and ethical decision- making, requiring applicants to be intuitive, not just logical; after all, a lack of “people skills” may be far more challenging to remediate than technical abilities. Therefore, the scenarios not only address the biomedical and clinical sciences, but the behavioural sciences as well. • Since applicants are not assessed on knowledge of case content, they can’t prepare for the sessions by memorizing any case material. • Applicants perform in a group setting, similar to working in a dental practice. • Examiners can observe applicants in four different group dynamics, including how they listen, reason and speak to, and with, a range of personalities. “We can see if someone is being dismissive or bored, is rushing and impatient, being dominant and overtaking, and not playing as a good team player,” Best says. Since eight people assess the applicants, this minimizes the bias that might occur with just one or two examiners, she adds. Each UBC PBL examiner marks applicants independently. The grades are averaged; if there’s a big variance, Best will interview the assessors. She reaffirms to them: “You’re looking for people who have the potential to think, act and shine as dentists. It’s more than just clinical psychomotor/ technical skills.” Best believes UBC Dentistry is the only dental faculty in Canada that uses problem-based learning to screen applicants in the admissions process. Multiple Interviews for More Exposure After investigating numerous interview techniques, Dr. Karen Gardner, clinical dentistry professor, coordinator of Integrated General Practice III, and acting chair of DMD admissions, determined that the multiple interview (MI) system with a variety of examiners would provide a fairer, more reliable method of assessing DMD candidates than standard one- hour or longer interviews with only one or two interviewers. (Eighteen trained faculty volunteers, including two backups, provide MI interviews for UBC Dentistry.) As UBC’s chair of DMD dental admissions interviews,