A short questionnaire to assess pediatric resident's competencies: the validation process

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pediatric Residency Training
• Competency-Based Assessment

Background:

• The Pediatric Residency Program at the University of Padua developed the Resident Assessment Questionnaire (ReAQ) to evaluate resident performance.
• Both residents and faculty were tasked with completing the ReAQ to gather comprehensive performance data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Resident Assessment Questionnaire (ReAQ).
• To validate the ReAQ for assessing core competencies in pediatric residents.

Main Methods:

• The ReAQ comprises 20 items aligned with the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME) six core competencies.
• Many-facet Rasch measurement analysis was employed for the ReAQ's validation.

Main Results:

• 211 evaluations were collected between July 2011 and June 2012.
• Self-evaluations and faculty evaluations showed a significant positive correlation (Spearman's ρ = 0.75, p < 0.001).
• Lower-than-expected agreement among faculty suggests a need for improved training on the ReAQ tool.

Conclusions:

• The finalized ReAQ is a valid and unidimensional measure of pediatric residents' core competencies.
• The ReAQ yields reliable measures and differentiates resident performance levels.
• The ReAQ ensures resident evaluations hold similar meaning for both residents and faculty.