A tool for self-assessment of communication skills and professionalism in residents

Abstract

Background: Effective communication skills and professionalism are critical for physicians in order to provide optimum care and achieve better health outcomes. The aims of this study were to evaluate residents' self-assessment of their communication skills and professionalism in dealing with patients, and to evaluate the psychometric properties of a self-assessment questionnaire.

Knowledge maps: a tool for online assessment with automated feedback

“…The initial creation of a well-constructed map does take time, effort, and careful consideration [48]. However, an MCQ that addresses key areas of understanding, and discriminates well between low-performing and high-performing students, also takes time to perfect and review [21,23]. While MEQs and other open-ended items may be easier and faster to author, grading responses to these items is highly labor intensive, which is of particular concern if class sizes continue to increase over time [10,49].…”

“…Effective functioning distractors must be neither trivial nor ludicrous [4], nor should they cue students to the correct answer. Functioning distractors have been defined as options selected by >5% students and chosen by lower-performing students more than higher-performing students [22], and can be difficult to write [23]. …”

Medical Residents’ Attitude toward Professionalism and Assessment of Their Professional Behaviors: A Cross-Sectional Survey

“…surgery residents' perceptions of their professional ability might be higher than non-surgical residents'; often in surgery, options are more concrete (i.e., surgery versus no surgery) whereas patient management options in non-surgical specialties are often less concrete (i.e., one medication regime versus another medication regime) and perhaps may be more difficult to articulate to patients. 15 In other word, an explanation for the difference could be the fundamental aspects of the field of surgery: the technical abilities inherent in surgical activities and less direct and less personal doctor-patient relationships, which tend to be more standardized and usually pre-programmed. 16 The item "need for yearly and semester evaluation" was statistically different based on the clinical discipline.…”

Review article: Assessment in anesthesiology education

“…The plethora of communication rating scales and evaluation instruments supports this notion. [52][53][54] However, even when a well-constructed evaluation tool is used, those responsible for administering the assessment often provide little in the way of rater training. Without training, individual raters may base their evaluations on the quality of medical judgements and personal sentiments rather than key their scores to specific construct-related attributes.…”

“…[61][62][63][64] While professionalism rating scales are available 53,65 and have been employed in OSCEs and as part of peer evaluations, 66 they are often difficult to administer. Many aspects of professionalism are difficult to define, at least in terms of specific behaviours.…”