Clinical Educator and Student Perceptions of a Weekly Observed Practice Activity Evaluation Tool

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Skills Assessment
• Competency-Based Education

Background:

• Clinical teachers often face challenges in understanding and assessing medical student expectations.
• The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) provides a framework of core skills for graduating medical students.
• There is a need for structured methods to observe and evaluate clinical skills development in medical students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a tool for providing medical students with specific, progressive clinical skills training.
• To enhance the assessment of clinical competencies using observable events.
• To clarify expectations for third-year medical students in an outpatient setting.

Main Methods:

• Developed Observed Practice Activities (OPAs) based on AAMC core skills.
• Utilized OPA cards for students to complete with outpatient preceptors.
• Trained preceptors and students on OPA card usage and collected completed cards.

Main Results:

• 79 preceptors and 80 students completed evaluations.
• 60% of students and 70% of preceptors found OPA cards helpful in understanding expectations.
• Preceptors reported greater value from the OPA cards compared to students.

Conclusions:

• OPA cards facilitate documentation of progressive skill acquisition by outpatient preceptors.
• OPA cards offer a standardized template for direct observation and competency-based feedback.
• The OPA cards are user-friendly, do not disrupt clinical workflow, and can be adapted by other institutions for evaluating skill development.