Program Director Perspectives on the Utility of the Medical Student Performance Evaluation Shared During the...

This study aims to identify qualities of the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) that program directors (PDs) perceive as useful and areas for improvement.

The authors analyzed deidentified open-ended comments from the Association of American Medical Colleges' 2020 and 2021 Resident Readiness Survey (RRS), an annual survey for PDs to provide standardized feedback to U.S. MD and DO degree-granting medical schools regarding their graduates' readiness for their first year of postgraduate training. The RRS included MSPE-related questions on usefulness of information for an intern, including the MSPE, provided to the PD by the medical school. Two investigators independently open-coded comments, iteratively compared coding, and consensually identified themes until sufficient data were analyzed to meet the research objective.

A total of 3,893 of 6,253 invited PDs (62%) responded to the 2020 and 2021 RRSs, resulting in 1,881 completed surveys that met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Comments from 1,145 of the 1,881 completed surveys (61%) were analyzed. Among these 1,145 PDs responding to the surveys, 550 (48%) selected yes, 401 (35%) selected somewhat, and 194 (17%) selected no in response to whether the information provided about an individual, including the MSPE, was useful. The MSPE qualities perceived as useful were an accurate view of the learner, high-quality narrative assessments of clinical abilities, and personal attributes that contributed to a holistic learner description. The PDs highlighted several limitations of the MSPE, such as the lack of standardized assessment tools, insufficient differentiation among learners, and inadequate emphasis on areas for professional development.

The PDs identified several ways in which the MSPE provided useful information about individual learners and identified MSPE limitations that can be considered for quality improvement. These findings can inform future MSPE practices institutionally and nationally to improve its utility for the transition to residency.