The Professionalism Mini-evaluation Exercise: a preliminary investigation

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professionalism Assessment
• Clinical Skills Evaluation

Background:

• Professional behavior evaluation is a recognized area needing development in medical training.
• The Professionalism Mini-Evaluation Exercise (P-MEX) was created to address this need.
• P-MEX utilizes the established mini-Clinical Examination Exercise (mini-CEX) framework.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new instrument for assessing professional behaviors in clinical settings.
• To determine the feasibility and reliability of the P-MEX format.
• To identify key domains of professionalism measurable by the P-MEX.

Main Methods:

• Developed an evaluation instrument with 24 items from 142 identified professional behaviors.
• Modeled the instrument on the mini-Clinical Examination Exercise (mini-CEX).
• Tested the P-MEX on clinical clerks across various specialties, collecting 211 forms from 74 students and 47 evaluators.

Main Results:

• The P-MEX demonstrated content and construct validity.
• Exploratory factor analysis identified four key factors: doctor-patient relationship skills, reflective skills, time management, and interprofessional relationship skills.
• A decision study indicated sufficient reliability with as few as 8 observations, and identified potential indicators for students needing further support.

Conclusions:

• The Professionalism Mini-Evaluation Exercise (P-MEX) is a practical and effective format for evaluating professionalism during clinical training.
• The P-MEX provides a valid and reliable method for assessing essential professional behaviors in medical education.
• This preliminary study supports the use of P-MEX for formative and summative assessments of student professionalism.