Evaluating Student Clerkship Performance Using Multiple Assessment Components.

Introduction: Family medicine clerkships utilize a broad set of objectives. The scope of these objectives cannot be measured by one assessment alone. Using multiple assessments aimed at measuring different objectives may provide more holistic evaluation of students. A further concern is to ensure longitudinal accuracy of assessments. In this study, we sought to better understand the relevance and validity of different assessment tools used in family medicine clerkships. Methods: We retrospectively correlated family medicine clerkship students' scores across different assessments to evaluate the strengths of the correlations, between the different assessment tools. We defined ρ<0.3 as weak, ρ>0.3 to ρ<0.5 as moderate, and ρ>0.5 as high correlation. Results: We compared individual assessment scores for 267 students for analysis. The correlation of the clinical evaluation was 0.165 (P<.01); with case-based short-answer questions it was 0.153 (P<.01); and with objective structured clinical examinations it was -0.246 (P<0.01). Conclusion: Overall low levels of correlations between our assessments are expected, as they are each designed to measure different objectives. The relatively higher correlation between component scores supports convergent validity while correlations closer to zero suggest discriminant validity. Unexpectedly, comparing the multiple-choice questions and objective, structured clinical encounter (OSCE) assessments, we found higher correlation, although we believe these should measure disparate objectives. We replaced our in-house multiple-choice questions with a nationally-standardized exam and preliminary analysis shows the expected weaker correlation with the OSCE assessment, suggesting periodic correlations between assessments may be useful.

Providing Trainees With an Introduction and Decision-Making Framework for Pursuing an Academic Residency Position.

Introduction: Medical students are a significant source of the future academic medicine workforce, but surprisingly little is typically done to promote academic medicine career awareness during the early stages of medical education. To raise awareness among medical students of the critical role an academic residency plays in pursuing a future academic career, we developed a workshop that describes what an academic residency entails and what to consider when selecting such a program. Methods: The six-step Kern model was applied to develop a multimodal workshop to help trainees understand characteristics of and explore their interest in an academic residency program. The 60-minute workshop consists of a PowerPoint presentation, reflection exercise, and case scenarios to help trainees learn and apply new skills in selecting a residency program. The workshop was offered to diverse medical students at nine different medical schools across the country between July 2016 and May 2017. Results: Of the 115 workshop participants who completed the evaluation form, over 95% agreed or strongly agreed that each of the learning objectives was met. A paired t test of learner responses pre- and postworkshop demonstrated significantly increased confidence in finding an academic residency position. Discussion: This workshop fills an important gap in raising medical students' awareness of how to pursue an academic medicine career by highlighting the critical role of an academic residency program. Participants liked the use of vignettes and small-group discussion to better prepare them in exploring and benefiting from an academic residency position.

Mentorship and pursuit of academic medicine careers: a mixed methods study of residents from diverse backgrounds.

BACKGROUND: Mentorship influences career planning, academic productivity, professional satisfaction, and most notably, the pursuit of academic medicine careers. Little is known about the role of mentoring in recruiting Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino residents into academia. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of mentoring on academic medicine career choice among a cohort of racially and ethnically diverse residents. METHODS: A strategic convenience sample of U.S. residents attending national professional conferences between March and July 2010; residents completed a quantitative survey and a subset participated in focus groups. RESULTS: Of the 250 residents, 183 (73%) completed surveys and 48 participated in focus groups. Thirty-eight percent of residents were white, 31% Black/African American, 17% Asian/other, and 14% Hispanic/Latino. Most respondents (93%) reported that mentorship was important for entering academia, and 70% reported having sufficient mentorship to pursue academic careers. Three themes about mentorship emerged from focus groups: (1) qualities of successful mentorship models; (2) perceived benefits of mentorship; and (3) the value of racial/ethnic and gender concordance. Residents preferred mentors they selected rather than ones assigned to them, and expressed concern about faculty using checklists. Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and female residents described actively seeking out mentors of the same race/ethnicity and gender, but expressed difficulty finding such mentors. Lack of racial/ethnic concordance was perceived as an obstacle for minority mentees, requiring explanation of the context and nuances of their perspectives and situations to non-minority mentors. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of residents in this study reported having access to mentors. However, data show that the lack of diverse faculty mentors may impede diverse residents' satisfaction and benefit from mentorship relationships compared to white residents. These findings are important for residency programs striving to enhance resident mentorship and for institutions working to diversify their faculty and staff to achieve institutional excellence.

Video tool to promote knowledge of syphilis among black and Hispanic men recruited from clinical and non-clinical settings.

UNLABELLED: Recent syphilis outbreaks in metropolitan cities are attributed to men who have sex with men (MSM) with a significant proportion of Black or Hispanic identity. However, there are few syphilis interventions that are tailored to minority MSM. METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess whether Black and Hispanic MSM recruited from various venues who viewed the "Syphilis and Men" video showed an increase in syphilis knowledge, regardless of self-reported characteristics associated with increased risk for syphilis infection. RESULTS: Of the 168 participants, 91.1% were Black or Hispanic and 64.9% had a male partner in the past 6 months. The video intervention group had a significant increase of 19.5-20.9 percentage points on the post-test survey, depending on the venue. This difference was present irrespective of participant socio-demographic and health-related characteristics. DISCUSSION: The "Syphilis and Men" video is a brief, cost-limited intervention to promote syphilis knowledge among Black and Hispanic MSM that can potentially be implemented in various venues.