title: Osteopathic medical student learning competency.
abstract: The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and implementation of a learning competency assessment survey for first-year medical students. We began by defining learning competencies in a manner that is parallel to the clinical competencies resulting in a self-assessment survey of 1,998 first-year osteopathic medical students from 25 osteopathic medical schools. Results from the online survey indicated that the internal structure of the instrument and the reliability of the items were strong. The survey revealed that first-year medical students were most confident in their ability to perform in a professional manner and least confident in their ability to manage their curriculum, particularly with the assistance of faculty and advisors. A regression analysis indicated that the best predictors of curricular involvement were Student Learning and Improvement, Knowledge of Osteopathic Philosophy and Skills, Interpersonal Communication, and Systems Knowledge. However, Medical Knowledge and Professionalism did not provide any unique variance to the model, suggesting that students' confidence in their undergraduate science training or self perceptions of their professionalism had little to do with their confidence in navigating medical school.
authors.affiliation: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Hershey
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Donohue
authors.forename: Yuhua Jake
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Jinsuk
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cettin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003162:Competency-Based Education / Q000379:methods*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010021:Osteopathic Medicine / Q000193:education*; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult