Emotional intelligence and clinical skills: preliminary results from a comprehensive clinical performance examination.

BACKGROUND: The recognition of emotional states in one's self and others, emotional intelligence (EI) may play a key role in patient care. This study examines the relationship between EI and students' clinical skills in a required, comprehensive performance examination (CPX). METHOD: Prior to taking a 12-station CPX, third-year students in 2003 and 2004 (n=165) completed the Trait Meta-Mood Scale and Davis' Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Dimensional subscales were computed and correlated with selected aspects of students' clinical skills as recorded by standardized patients in each objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)-type encounter. RESULTS: The internal consistencies (alpha) of subtests ranged from .73-.90. Attention to Feelings, Empathic Concern, and Perspective Taking were significantly (p=

Clinical skills as demonstrated by a comprehensive clinical performance examination: who performs better - men or women?

PURPOSE: Determine whether gender predicted student performance on a clinical performance examination (CPX) when controlling for pre-matriculation and medical school performance. METHOD: A sixteen-station CPX, utilizing standardized patients (SPs), was administered to the fourth-year students three successive years at one United States medical school. Scores for each student by discipline and skills across stations were generated. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine relationships between students' scores and pre-matriculation information (age, gender, MCAT, and undergraduate GPA) and medical school performance (first-, second- and third-year GPA, and USMLE Step 1). RESULTS: The CPX mean score for all students was 65.1% (SD 6.2). The mean total score for men (n = 182) and women (n = 93) was 64.0% and 67.0%, respectively. Being a woman, positively affected a student's score in two models controlling for pre-matriculation and medical school performance by 2.8% or 0.47 standard deviations (SD) and 2.3% or 0.39 SD, respectively. Women scored numerically higher than men in all seven disciplines (internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and psychiatry, p < 0.05) and for nine skills across all stations (introduction, history, physical examination, counseling and interpersonal, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Women performed better than men on the University of Kentucky CPX. Being a woman was a positive and independent predictor of performance.

Gender discrimination and sexual harassment in medical education: perspectives gained by a 14-school study.

PURPOSE: The authors attempted to determine male and female medical students' exposures to and perceptions of gender discrimination and sexual harassment (GD/SH) in selected academic and nonacademic contexts. METHOD: An anonymous, self-report questionnaire was administered in the spring of 1997 to senior medical students at 14 U.S. medical schools. Data were collected about students' exposures to GD/SH during undergraduate medical education and outside the medical training environment. Students' perceptions of GD/SH in various medical specialties and practice settings were also measured. RESULTS: Of the 1,911 questionnaires administered, 1,314 were completed (response rate, 69%). Both men and women reported exposures to GD/SH. More women than men reported all types of exposures to GD/SH across all academic and nonacademic contexts. Differences between men and women in the frequencies of exposures were greatest outside the medical training environment (t = 15.67, df = 1171, p

Medical students' ratings of faculty teaching in a multi-instructor setting: an examination of monotonic response patterns.

Realizing that the psychometric properties of a measure may be highly variable is especially relevant in a multi-instructor context, since an implicit assumption is that student ratings are equally reliable and valid for all faculty ratees. As a possible indicator of nonattending (i.e. invalid) responses, the authors examined the effects of monotonic response patterns on the reliabilities of students' ratings of faculty teaching - including how an alternative presentation format may reduce the prevalence of this behavior. Second-year medical and dental students (n = 130) enrolled in a required basic science course during the 1998-99 academic year were randomly assigned to one of two groups - each of which evaluated the teaching of 6 different faculty across 6 distinct dimensions (i.e. overall quality, organization, preparation, stimulation, respectfulness, and helpfulness). Using a 'split ballot' design, two versions of the conceptually equivalent faculty evaluation form were distributed at random to students in each group. Form A contained the 'traditional' items-within-faculty format, while Form B listed faculty-within-item.The number of monotonic forms (i.e. the identical rating of all 6 items) varied measurably across faculty ratees, as did the respective effects on scale reliabilities. Alpha was especially inflated where a sizeable proportion of monotonic patterns were located on response categories that were either very high (> +1.28 z(m) deviations) or very low (< -1.28 z(m) deviations) compared to the group mean. Lastly, the prevalence of monotonic response patterns was significantly (p = < or = 0.01) less when a faculty-within-item format is used (Form B). These findings suggest that monotonic response patterns differentially impact the reliabilities and, hence, the validity of students' ratings of individual faculty in a multi-instructor context.

Comparison and evaluation of the clinical experience of fourth-year medical students in a mandatory emergency medicine clerkship at university and community hospitals.

From 1995 to 1998, 225 medical students taking the Emergency Medicine Clerkship filled out bubble sheets on 15 common clinical problems for each of their clinical shifts. All students had to take a mandatory written final examination. Of 225 students who took the clerkship, 196 students filled out all 10 sheets and took the final examination. There was an insignificant difference between the clinical problems seen at community hospitals as compared with the university hospital. There was no statistically significant difference in the final exam scores of students from the community hospitals versus those who had their clerkship at the university hospital. The medical students' experience proven by final exam and clinical problems was the same at the university hospital and the community hospitals.