Predicting Surgical Resident Performance With Situational Judgment Tests.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Training
• Applicant Assessment

Background:

• Situational judgment tests (SJTs) are increasingly recognized for their potential in evaluating medical residency applicants.
• Traditional selection methods may not fully capture essential noncognitive skills crucial for physician success.
• There is a need to validate SJTs' predictive ability for resident performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the predictive validity of SJTs for early-career milestone performance in general surgery residency.
• To determine if SJT performance correlates with key Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones.

Main Methods:

• General surgery residents from seven programs completed SJTs over three application cycles.
• ACGME milestone data were collected for residents, stratified by SJT performance groups (green, yellow, red, unknown).
• Statistical analyses, including ANOVA, were used to compare milestone performance across SJT groups.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning, professionalism, and communication skills were observed across SJT performance groups.
• Residents in the 'green' SJT group generally showed superior performance in most milestone categories.
• Varied performance patterns emerged between 'yellow' and 'red' groups, with some unexpected findings in specific skill areas.

Conclusions:

• SJTs show promise in assessing critical noncognitive attributes relevant to residency training.
• Findings support the use of SJTs as part of a holistic review process for residency applicants.
• SJTs may contribute to more equitable and effective resident selection by identifying candidates with strong potential for success.