title: Time to "refine" clinical ward assessments? Or time to retrain?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the reliability and intra-professional variation of senior and junior doctors in the assessment of a junior doctor's clinical skills via video simulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Simulation video was created showing 4 clinical scenarios. This video was shown to consultants, registrars and junior doctors in various forms at Auckland City Hospital. Participants evaluated each scenario against a modified version of the current assessment form used by the Medical Council of New Zealand.
  
  
  RESULTS
  103 Respondents completed the survey: 22 Senior Medical Officers, 17 registrars (PGY3+), 43 junior doctors (PGY1-2) and 21 undergraduates (medical students). Statistical significance between groups was reached only for Question 6 in which Senior Medical Officers rated communication skills and respect for patients lower than postgraduate students (p=0.005). Large variability was noted in ratings for 'presentation of history' and 'clinical knowledge'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is marked variation between Senior Medical Officers in the assessment of a junior doctor's clinical practice as demonstrated by the use of a simulation video. This variation is of potential major concern. Quality training methods of assessors may need to be implemented for standardisation of assessment if a summative component exists.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Education Training Unit, Level 15 Support Building, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Depak K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Child
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009520:New Zealand; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014741:Video Recording