Assessing radiology resident reporting skills.
OBJECTIVE
To develop an Objective Structured Clinical Examination for assessing the reporting skills of radiology residents.


METHODS
The approach used in this study derives from performance-based assessment, that is, tests in which actual performance of a skill is observed and measured. For this task, 29 radiology residents and five faculty members (n = 34) independently dictated reports regarding a set of 20 cases with radiographs in 1 hour. The task was performed in a controlled environment. Data were analyzed by using analysis of variance and tests for linear trends, with the expectation of increasing performance with increasing experience.


RESULTS
Significant relationships were observed between subjects' experience and the mean number of cases completed (F = 4.46, P =.006), the mean number of well-specified impressions (F = 5.84, P =.001), and the mean number of urgent or discrepant findings noted (F = 3.67, P =.015). Results also demonstrated a clear linear trend of increasing performance with increasing experience with each variable (P =.002, <.001, and.002, respectively, for t tests with polynomial contrasts).


CONCLUSIONS
The significant linear trends indicate that reporting skills increase with increasing experience in the program. This finding supports the validity of the measurement. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination provides a means of assessing radiology resident reporting skills.
Williamson
Kenneth B
KB
Education and Research Institute, Department of Radiology, Indiana University, 714 N Senate Ave, Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. kenwilli@iupui.edu
Steele
Jennifer L
JL
Gunderman
Richard B
RB
Wilkin
Terrence D
TD
Tarver
Robert D
RD
Jackson
Valerie P
VP
Kreipke
Donald L
DL
D002983:Clinical Competence; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008499:Medical Records; D011871:Radiology / Q000193:education*