title: Who to Interview? Low Adherence by U.S. Medical Schools to Medical Student Performance Evaluation Format Makes Resident Selection Difficult.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) appendices provide a program director with comparative performance for a student's academic and professional attributes, but they are frequently absent or incomplete.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed MSPEs from applicants to our emergency medicine residency program from 134 of 136 (99%) U.S. allopathic medical schools, over two application cycles (2012-13, 2014-15). We determined the degree of compliance with each of the five recommended MSPE appendices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only three (2%) medical schools were compliant with all five appendices. The medical school information page (MSIP, appendix E) was present most commonly (85%), followed by comparative clerkship performance (appendix B, 82%), overall performance (appendix D, 59%), preclinical performance (appendix A, 57%), and professional attributes (appendix C, 18%). Few schools (7%) provided student-specific, comparative professionalism assessments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medical schools inconsistently provide graphic, comparative data for their students in the MSPE. Although program directors (PD) value evidence of an applicant's professionalism when selecting residents, medical schools rarely provide such useful, comparative professionalism data in their MSPEs. As PDs seek to evaluate applicants based on academic performance and professionalism, rather than standardized testing alone, medical schools must make MSPEs more consistent, objective, and comparative.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boysen-Osborn
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yanuck
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California; New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mattson
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toohey
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Alisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wray
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Warren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wiechmann
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Shadi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lahham
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Mark I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Langdorf
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013337:Students, Medical; D014481:United States