What drives faculty ratings of residents' clinical skills? The impact of faculty's own clinical skills.
BACKGROUND
Factors explaining faculty variability in performance appraisals of trainees' clinical skills are poorly understood. This study sought to identify whether faculty characteristics and clinical skills performance impacted their ratings of residents' clinical skills.


METHODS
Forty-four internal medicine faculty completed a demographic questionnaire, eight standardized patient (SP) encounters, and rated four videotaped scenarios of standardized residents with SPs using the mini-CEX. Faculty characteristics, their SP exam content, and process performance scores were correlated with their mini-CEX ratings of residents.


RESULTS
Faculty demographics, including experience, were not associated with mini-CEX ratings. Higher history-taking performance scores were associated with rater stringency in interviewing (r = -0.55, P < .01) and organization (r = -0.35, P < .05). Higher faculty process performance scores were associated with rater stringency in interviewing and physical exam (r = -0.41 and r = -0.42, P < .01, respectively) and organization (r = -0.36, P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Faculty's own clinical skills may be associated with their ratings of trainees.
Kogan
Jennifer R
JR
Jennifer.kogan@uphs.upenn.edu
Hess
Brian J
BJ
Conforti
Lisa N
LN
Holmboe
Eric S
ES
D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires