Rubric evaluation of pediatric emergency medicine fellows

To develop and validate a rubric assessment instrument for use by pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) faculty to evaluate PEM fellows and for fellows to use to self-assess.

This is a prospective study at a PEM fellowship program. The assessment instrument was developed through a multistep process: (1) development of rubric format items, scaled on the modified Dreyfus model proficiency levels, corresponding to the 6 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies; (2) determination of content and construct validity of the items through structured input and item refinement by subject matter experts and focus group review; (3) collection of data using a 61-item form; (4) evaluation of psychometrics; (5) selection of items for use in the final instrument.

A total of 261 evaluations were collected from 2006 to 2007; exploratory factor analysis yielded 5 factors with Eigenvalues >1.0; each contained ≥4 items, with factor loadings >0.4 corresponding with the following competencies: (1) medical knowledge and practice-based learning and improvement, (2) patient care and systems-based practice, (3) interpersonal skills, (4) communication skills, and (5) professionalism. Cronbach α for the final 53-item instrument was 0.989. There was also significant responsiveness of the tool to the year of training.

A substantively and statistically validated rubric evaluation of PEM fellows is a reliable tool for formative and summative evaluation.