A study investigated whether medical school faculty can arrive at consistent, non-idiosyncratic grades in a problem-based learning course. Analysis of grades given by three teachers, based on seven performance categories, to 16 groups of nine students in a seven-week University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) course revealed that given specific…

A University of Hawaii study compared objective and subjective assessments of the three-step triple jump examination which tests medical students' clinical problem-solving processes. Subjects were 58 first-year students. Results found the subjective assessments were more consistent across problems of varying difficulty level than were objective…

A survey of medicine clerkship directors in 101 United States and Puerto Rican medical schools found descriptor grades the most commonly used, letter grades next most common, and numerical grading systems used by 4 schools. However, there was a lack of consistency in the descriptor grades used. (Author/MSE)

A study investigated the relationships among nine instruments designed to measure clinical knowledge and performance in a third-year surgery clerkship. Results suggest that various types of measures are necessary for broad evaluation of clinical performance. Instruments clustered into two groups: measures of medical knowledge and clinical…

A 1990 study of domain-referenced scores from a multiple-station clinical examination for foreign medical graduates investigated identification of essential checklist items, setting of minimum passing scores, consistency of candidate classification, and perceived appropriateness of the number of candidates classified as competent. Results and…

The performance of foreign medical school graduates on multistation standardized patient-based tests was used to determine the validity and generalizability of global ratings of their clinical competence made by expert examiners. Results suggest that these ratings can be used as an effective form of assessment in this context. (Author/MSE)

Interrater reliability in numerical ratings of clerkship performance (n=1,482 students) in five surgery programs was studied. Raters were classified as accurate or moderately or significantly stringent or lenient. Results indicate that increasing the proportion of accurate raters would substantially improve the precision of class rankings. (MSE)

Comparisons are made of the results of administering the same Objective Structured Clinical Examination-type clinical skills tests to two cohorts of the Ontario Pre-Internship Program. A description is provided of entry-exit comparisons between the test results of the two cohorts. (GLR)

A review of studies in which it was possible to compare results of health profession trainees' self-evaluations with assessment of performance by experts or objective tests found that self-assessment has potential but is poorly used. Effective training to improve validity and accuracy is available. (Author/MSE)

Final-year Ontario medical students (n=88) took a 4-station objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) using standardized patients and involving decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Performance was scored on a checklist of behaviors unique to each case. Results indicated that because of low reliability, the OSCE is not a feasible…

To investigate the validity of anesthesiologist certification, 146 anesthesiology program directors were asked whether they would permit each of their graduating residents to complete 3 increasingly complex anesthetic regimens to the directors themselves and rate residents on specific skills. Director responses generally correspond to…

Poor performance of medical students, residents, and faculty on a newly developed Inventory of Cognitive Biases in Medicine, suggests that cognitive biases detract from reliance on logical and statistical strategies in medical decision making. The test shows promise for use in instructional and research efforts to reduce such bias. (Author/MSE)

Analysis of the internal medicine clinical rotations of 43 University of Michigan medical students revealed that students saw many kinds of medical problems but few instances of each and that there were wide gaps in exposure to some typical ambulatory care problems. Student skill gains did not correlate with problem types encountered. (MSE)

In a survey, 1,851 registered nurses evaluated 232 internists' humanistic qualities, communication skills, and selected aspects of their clinical skills. Their ratings corresponded moderately with peer physician evaluations and had a common structure but were lower for several humanistic qualities. A reliable assessment required 11-15 nurses'…

A study investigated observable differences in results, not attributable to student competence, in administrations of the same 16-station clinical skills screening examination (Ontario International Medical Graduates Program) to approximately 200 foreign medical graduates and University of Toronto fourth-year medical students. Results indicated…