They won’t tell us what they are—but University of Ottawa is zeroing in on 7 family med competencies at the med school interview stage

The University of Ottawa has changed their applicant interview content to better detect the competencies needed for family medicine. The idea is to select students for medical school admission who would not only make good family doctors, but who will indeed choose family medicine in residency.Why the change? Interest in family medicine is low. In 2023 and 2024 fewer than 2.5% of first year University of Ottawa undergraduate medical education students listed family medicine as their preferred medical career, according to data collected from student questionnaires from 2023 to 2024. The selection process is one of the few areas that can be changed to pique the interest in family medicine, explained Dr. Geneviève Lemay, associate dean of admissions at the University of Ottawa’s undergraduate medical program, in a presentation on the interview redesign as part of the International Congress of Academic Medicine, held in Ottawa in April.Dr. Lemay and colleagues approached the transformation in two phases, first reviewing the interview content, then redesigning it so it matched current practice of family medicine. They also introduced structured scoring instead of relying on assessor observations. The new content launched during the selection process in 2025, with 605 interviews. Dr. Lemay and colleagues performed a psychometric evaluation of the interview content. They found the new content was able to reliably differentiate presence of the seven competencies the University of Ottawa seeks. There were no significant differences in scores between interview days or language, nor between different assessors. The analysis showed itself to be fair in that there was no evidence of bias between students. In 2025, with the new interview content, the number of first year students hoping to be family physicians rose from 2.5% to 4%, with five extra students indicating they hope to become family physicians. “It is not a one-time re-design, we will continue refining our interview process through ongoing psychometric reviews and audits,” Dr. Lemay said. The faculty will also track CaRMS data in years to come to see if the selection process impacts what residencies students select. What are the seven competencies that the new interview content aims to collect? That information will stay secret so it stays off the online discussion groups (e.g., Reddit) for medical school aspirants and impact interview results. Dr. Lemay did note that success in family medicine practice does rely on competencies like communication, professionalism, empathy and resilience.It’s not the only instrument the University of Ottawa has in their toolbox to increase the number of students applying to family medicine residency, Dr. Lemay said. The university is getting more family physicians involved as teachers, leaders and lecturers. It’s also launching a special family medicine-focused undergraduate medical education program, starting in September 2026.

They won’t tell us what they are—but University of Ottawa is zeroing in on 7 family med competencies at the med school interview stage

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