title: A short questionnaire to assess pediatric resident's competencies: the validation process.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In order to help assess resident performance during training, the Residency Affair Committee of the Pediatric Residency Program of the University of Padua (Italy) administered a Resident Assessment Questionnaire (ReAQ), which both residents and faculty were asked to complete. The aim of this article is to present the ReAQ and its validation.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ReAQ consists of 20 items that assess the six core competencies identified by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). A many-facet Rasch measurement analysis was used for validating the ReAQ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between July 2011 and June 2012, 211 evaluations were collected from residents and faculty. Two items were removed because their functioning changed with the gender of respondents. The step calibrations were ordered. The self evaluations (residents rating themselves) positively correlated with the hetero evaluations (faculty rating residents; Spearman's ρ = 0.75, p < 0.001). Unfortunately, the observed agreement among faculty was smaller than expected (Exp = 47.1%; Obs = 41%), which indicates that no enough training to faculty for using the tool was provided.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In its final form, the ReAQ provides a valid unidimensional measure of core competences in pediatric residents. It produces reliable measures, distinguishes among groups of residents according to different levels of performance, and provides a resident evaluation that holds an analogous meaning for residents and faculty.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Residency Program, Department of Woman's and Child's Health, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 3 - 35128 Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Liviana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Da Dalt
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Anselmi
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bressan
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carraro
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baraldi
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Robusto
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perilongo
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires