TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring Perspectives from Internal Medicine Clerkship Directors in the USA on Effective Narrative Evaluation
T2 - Results from the CDIM National Survey
AU - Ledford, Robert
AU - Burger, Alfred
AU - LaRochelle, Jeff
AU - Klocksieben, Farina
AU - DeWaay, Deborah
AU - O’Brien, Kevin E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, International Association of Medical Science Educators.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Purpose: Clinical performance evaluations play a critical role in determining medical school clerkship grades. This study aimed to provide clarification from clerkship directors in internal medicine on what constitutes an effective and informative narrative description of student performance. Methods: In September 2016, the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) electronically administered its annual, voluntary, and confidential cross-sectional survey of its US membership. One section of the survey asked six questions regarding the helpful components of an effective narrative evaluation. Respondents were asked to rate the effectiveness of elements contained within narrative evaluations of students. Results: Ninety-five CDIM members responded to the survey with an overall response rate of 74.2%. Descriptions of skills and behaviors were felt to be the most important, followed by a description of the overall synthetic or global assessment level of the student. Descriptions of personality and attitude were the next highest rated feature followed by adjectives describing performance. Length was felt to be the least important component. In free-text comments, several respondents indicated that direct observation of performance and specific examples of skills and behaviors are also desirable. Conclusions: Narrative evaluations of students that explicitly comment on skills, behaviors, and an overarching performance level of the learner are strongly preferred by clerkship directors. Direct observation of clinical performance and giving specific examples of such behaviors give evaluations even more importance. Faculty development on evaluation and assessment should include instruction on these narrative assessment characteristics.
AB - Purpose: Clinical performance evaluations play a critical role in determining medical school clerkship grades. This study aimed to provide clarification from clerkship directors in internal medicine on what constitutes an effective and informative narrative description of student performance. Methods: In September 2016, the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) electronically administered its annual, voluntary, and confidential cross-sectional survey of its US membership. One section of the survey asked six questions regarding the helpful components of an effective narrative evaluation. Respondents were asked to rate the effectiveness of elements contained within narrative evaluations of students. Results: Ninety-five CDIM members responded to the survey with an overall response rate of 74.2%. Descriptions of skills and behaviors were felt to be the most important, followed by a description of the overall synthetic or global assessment level of the student. Descriptions of personality and attitude were the next highest rated feature followed by adjectives describing performance. Length was felt to be the least important component. In free-text comments, several respondents indicated that direct observation of performance and specific examples of skills and behaviors are also desirable. Conclusions: Narrative evaluations of students that explicitly comment on skills, behaviors, and an overarching performance level of the learner are strongly preferred by clerkship directors. Direct observation of clinical performance and giving specific examples of such behaviors give evaluations even more importance. Faculty development on evaluation and assessment should include instruction on these narrative assessment characteristics.
KW - Faculty development
KW - Learner assessment
KW - Narrative evaluation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074584442&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s40670-019-00825-y
DO - 10.1007/s40670-019-00825-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074584442
SN - 2156-8650
VL - 30
SP - 155
EP - 161
JO - Medical Science Educator
JF - Medical Science Educator
IS - 1
ER -