title: [Diagnostic and formative assessment of competencies at the beginning of undergraduate medical internship].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research on diagnostic and formative assessment competencies during undergraduate medical training is scarce in Latin America.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the level of clinical competence of students at the beginning of their medical internship in a new curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was an observational cross-sectional study in UNAM Faculty of Medicine students in Mexico City: a formative assessment of the second class of Curriculum 2010 students as part of the integral evaluation of the program. The assessment had two components: theoretical and practical.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We assessed 577 students (65.5%) of the 880 total population that finished the 9th semester of Curriculum 2010. The written exam consisted of 232 items, with a mean of 61.0 ± 19.6, a difficulty index of 0.61, and Cronbach's alpha of 0.89. The mean of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) was 62.2 ± 16.8, with a mean Cronbach's alpha of 0.51. Results were analyzed by knowledge area and exam stations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall results provide evidence that students achieve sufficiently the competencies established in the curriculum at the beginning of the internship, that they have the necessary foundation for learning new and more complex information, and integrate it with existing knowledge to achieve significant learning and continue their training.
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.|Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Adrián
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martínez-González
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Enseñanza Clínica e Internado Médico, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lifshitz-Guinzberg
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Juan Andrés
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Trejo-Mejía
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Torruco-García
authors.affiliation: Coordinación de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Teresa I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Fortoul-van der Goes
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Flores-Hernández
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peña-Balderas
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Informática Biomédica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Adrián Israel
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Martínez-Franco
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Enseñanza Clínica e Internado Médico, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hernández-Nava
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Enseñanza Clínica e Internado Médico, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elena-González
authors.affiliation: Secretaría de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
authors.forename: Melchor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Mendiola
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003933:Diagnosis; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D007396:Internship and Residency