Watson Justin J J, Bohan Phillip M Kemp, Ramsey Katrina, Yonge John D, Connelly Christopher R, Mullins Richard J, Watters Jennifer M, Schreiber Martin A, Kiraly Laszlo N
Oregon Health & Science University, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Critical Care & Acute Care Surgery, USA.
Oregon Health & Science University, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, USA.
Am J Surg. 2017 May;213(5):906-909. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2017.03.026. Epub 2017 Apr 5.
Medical student performance has been poorly correlated with residency performance and warrants further investigation. We propose a novel surgical assessment tool to determine correlations with clinical aptitude.
Retrospective review of medical student assessments from 2013 to 2015. Faculty rating of student performance was evaluated by: 1) case presentation, 2) problem definition, 3) question response and 4) use of literature and correlated to final exam assessment. A Likert scale interrater reliability was evaluated.
Sixty student presentations were scored (4.8 assessors/presentation). A student's case presentation, problem definition, and question response was correlated with performance (r = 0.49 to 0.61, p ≤ 0.003). Moderate correlations for either question response or use of literature was demonstrated (0.3 and 0.26, p < 0.05).
Our four-part assessment tool identified correlations with course and examination grades for medical students. As surgical education evolves, validated performance and reliable testing measures are required.