Is recruitment in the medical field better assessed through group or one-on-one interviews?

One-on-One Interviews Are More Effective for Medical Recruitment Than Group Interviews

One-on-one interviews are generally more effective than group interviews for recruitment in the medical field as they allow for more personalized assessment, better trust-building, and more detailed evaluation of candidates. 1, 2

Evidence for One-on-One Interviews

• One-on-one interviews are considered an integral part of most medical admission processes, serving four key purposes: information gathering, decision making, verification of application data, and recruitment 2
• Face-to-face, one-on-one recruitment strategies have been shown to be more effective for enrolling participants in clinical research, particularly when building trust is essential 1
• Individual interviews enable admission committees to gather information about candidates that would be difficult or impossible to obtain through other means 2, 3
• In medical school admissions, 99% of responding medical schools use interviews in their selection process, with the interview ranking second only to GPA in importance among selection factors 3

Benefits of One-on-One Interviews

• One-on-one interviews allow for more personalized assessment and can be structured to focus on non-academic criteria that are difficult to evaluate in group settings 2
• Individual interviews facilitate better trust-building, which is particularly important in medical recruitment where trust is a universally identified factor in participation 1
• Direct, face-to-face communication with study personnel has shown advantages over passive recruitment methods in many contexts 1
• One-on-one interviews allow for verification of application data and provide an opportunity for detailed assessment of qualifications 2

When Group Approaches May Be Beneficial

• Focus group discussions have been used effectively in some contexts, particularly for gathering qualitative feedback about recruitment strategies rather than for the recruitment itself 1
• Group settings may be useful for initial information dissemination, but typically need to be followed by individual assessment 1
• For certain populations, community-based group approaches can help establish initial trust before transitioning to individual recruitment 1

Best Practices for Interview Implementation

• Structured or semi-structured interviews focusing on specific criteria increase reliability and validity of results 2
• Training interviewers can reduce bias related to rating tendencies, applicant's characteristics, and contrast to other applicants 2
• Minimizing "layers" of intermediaries in the recruitment process improves outcomes - direct one-on-one contact is often more effective than multiple handoffs 4
• For clinical research recruitment, having race, ethnic, or cultural concordance between the interviewer and potential participants has been shown to minimize participation barriers 1

Considerations for Different Contexts

• For clinical trials, one-on-one recruitment through clinicians that patients already trust has shown better results than group-based approaches 1, 5
• In medical school admissions, individual interviews with at least two separate interviewers per applicant is the standard practice 3
• For recruitment of underrepresented populations, one-on-one approaches that build trust and address individual concerns have proven most effective 1
• Digital or virtual one-on-one interviews may offer advantages in terms of accessibility while maintaining the benefits of individual assessment 1

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Unstructured interviews may introduce more bias and reduce reliability of assessment 2
• Relying solely on group interviews may miss important individual characteristics and reduce the ability to address specific concerns 1, 2
• Failing to properly train interviewers can lead to inconsistent evaluations and biased selections 2
• Not allocating sufficient time and resources for the recruitment process - successful researchers recognize that recruitment is often the single most important phase of research but is frequently under-planned and under-funded 4

By implementing one-on-one interviews with proper structure and training, medical institutions can optimize their recruitment processes while still maintaining efficiency and thoroughness in their assessments.