Doctors save lives, but sometimes they are rude to nurses and do not listen to patients. Medical schools have traditionally done little to keep out candidates with bad characters or to train them to behave better, but that is changing.

Virginia Tech Carilion, the newest medical school in the United States, decided against relying only on grades, test scores and hour-long interviews to determine who got in. Instead, the school decided to have candidates take nine short interviews that forced them to show if they had the social skills to succeed in a health care system in which good communication has become necessary. The new process has important consequences not only for the lives of the candidates but also for the entire health care system. It is called (1)the multiple mini interview, and its use is spreading. At least eight medical schools in the United States and 13 in Canada are using it.

At Virginia Tech Carilion, 26 candidates showed up on a Saturday in March and stood with their backs to the doors of 26 small rooms. When a bell rang, the candidates turned around and read a sheet of paper taped to the door that described an ethical*1 problem. Two minutes later, the bell rang again and the candidates quickly entered the small rooms and found an interviewer waiting. The candidates had eight minutes to discuss the problem written on that room's door. Then they moved to the next room, the next surprise problem, and the next interviewer, who gave each candidate a score and sometimes wrote a brief note.

Authorities at Virginia Tech Carilion create questions that measure how well candidates can react under pressure and how willing they are to work in teams. The most important part of the interviews is often not the candidates’ first responses - there are no right or wrong answers - but how well they respond when someone disagrees with them, something that happens when　working in teams. Candidates who jump to false conclusions, fail to listen, or have too strong opinions do poorly because such behavior has a bad effect on teams. Those who give an appropriate response to the emotion of the interviewer or ask for more information do well in the new admission process because such tendencies are helpful not only with colleagues but also with patients. Besides typical test scores, the medical school authorities are looking for students who have good communication skills and can cooperate with others.

(2)The system grew out of research that found that interviewers rarely change their scores after the first five minutes, that using multiple interviewers removes bias,*2 and that situational questions rather than personal ones are more likely to reveal a person's true character. In fact, it has been proven that candidate scores on multiple mini interviews can predict scores on medical licensing exams three to five years later that test doctors'decision- making, communication with patients, and cultural understanding.

A pleasant bedside manner and good listening skills have always been desirable in doctors, of course, but (3)two trends have led medical schools to place more importance on these qualities. The first is a growing number of studies that show that many preventable deaths are caused by poor communication among doctors, patients and nurses that often results because some doctors, while having good technical skills, have poor social skills. In some hospitals, poor communication becomes so common that the wrong operations are performed.

The second related trend is that medicine is changing from individual work to group work. Individual medical practices are disappearing. In their place, large health care systems are creating teams of doctors who specialize in different fields. The strength of such teams has more to do with communication than the technical ability of any one member.

Authorities at Virginia Tech Carilion say that teamwork has become so important in medical work that the school not only chooses its students based on their willingness and ability to cooperate effectively, but also requires students to take teamwork classes. The school puts more effort into improving students'social skills than almost any other, and requires students to undertake community projects with nurses and other health professionals.

【Adapted from New for Aspiring Doctors, the People Skills Test, by Gardiner Harris, New York Times Online, July 10(2011)】

1. 下線部(1)の試験内容を、本文の内容に沿って日本語で書きなさい。
2. 下線部(2)を日本語に訳しなさい。
3. 下線部(3)が指すことを二つ, 日本語で具体的に書きなさい。
4. 本文の内容に関する次の文(1)~(5)を読み, 正しいものには〇, 間違っているものにはxを, それそれ記入しなさい。
   • (1) The multiple mini interview tests candidates' technical knowledge and skills in medicine.
   • (2) Each candidate has to take 26 interviews, and each interview has a different topic.
   • (3) Asking the interviewers questions can help raise a candidate's score.
   • (4) Students who do well in multiple mini interviews are likely to do well in examinations for getting a doctor s license.
   • (5) At Virginia Tech Carilion, if students did poorly on the interviews, they must take teamwork classes.