Relationship between clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills in standardized-patient assessment.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the relationship between clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills, in an attempt to clarify current thinking about these two dimensions as measured with standardized-patient (SP) examinations.


METHODS
Simple Pearson correlations were computed between total examination scores for clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills. Three sets of different types of data involving 15 separate examinations were used to explore the generality of the findings. To control for a within-case halo effect and measurement error, corrected cross-half correlations and corrected cross-case correlations were also computed.


RESULTS
The simple correlations and the corrected cross-half and cross-case correlations showed moderate and above relationships between these two dimensions in the clinical context. The simple correlations centered around .50, and the corrected cross-half and cross-case correlations were slightly higher, centering around .65 and .70, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The authors' thinking is that the moderate relationship between clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills is not due to a flaw in the measurement of clinical competence, as has been suggested, but rather is a natural consequence of the clinical encounter, which exacts an interdependence of these two dimensions. At least, this possibility must be seriously considered so medical educators can think and act appropriately in the assessment of clinical performance.
Colliver
J A
JA
SIU School of Medicine, Springfield 62794-9623, USA. colliver@siumed.edu
Swartz
M H
MH
Robbs
R S
RS
Cohen
D S
DS
D000328:Adult; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D004501:Education, Medical; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D016544:Patient Simulation; D010808:Physical Examination; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations