Use of the Behavior Assessment Tool in 18 Pilot Residency Programs.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Professionalism Assessment

Background:

• Assessing professionalism in orthopedic surgery residents is crucial for patient care and program quality.
• Existing methods for evaluating resident professionalism may lack standardization and objectivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the feasibility of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery Behavior Tool (ABOSBT).
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the ABOSBT in measuring professionalism among orthopedic surgery residents.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 18 orthopedic surgery residency programs.
• Residents requested 360° assessments using the ABOSBT from faculty.
• Program Directors (PDs) provided baseline professionalism ratings for comparison.

Main Results:

• 9,892 evaluations were completed for 449 residents.
• 97.6% of evaluations indicated high levels of professional behavior (scores 4 or 5).
• The ABOSBT demonstrated 81% sensitivity and 57% specificity in identifying low-performing residents compared to PD ratings.

Conclusions:

• The ABOSBT is a feasible and effective tool for assessing resident professionalism in orthopedic surgery.
• The tool successfully identified residents with professionalism concerns, with 2.4% of evaluations scoring below level 3.
• The ABOSBT's 5-domain structure provides actionable data for developing resident performance improvement plans.