Evaluating clinical dermatology practice in medical undergraduates

The acquisition of competences (the set of knowledge, skills and attitudes required to perform a job to a professional level) is considered a fundamental part of medical training. Dermatology competences should include, in addition to effective clinical interviewing and detailed descriptions of skin lesions, appropriate management (diagnosis, differentiation, and treatment) of common skin disorders and tumors. Such competences can only be acquired during hospital clerkships. As a way of certifying these competences, we propose evaluating the different components as follows: knowledge, via clinical examinations or critical incident discussions; communication and certain instrumental skills, via structured workplace observation and scoring using a set of indicators; and attitudes, via joint evaluation by staff familiar with the student.