Factors Influencing Evaluation Completion During Emergency Medicine Sub-internships: A Multi-site Observational Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Emergency Medicine
• Healthcare Administration

Background:

• Clinical rotation assessments are crucial for evaluating student competencies and readiness for residency.
• Equitable evaluations require complete and representative input from supervisors.
• Factors influencing evaluation completion rates in emergency medicine (EM) sub-internships are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine evaluation completion rates during EM sub-internships.
• To assess the association between evaluator characteristics (type, gender, site) and student factors (gender) with evaluation completion.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective observational study was conducted at two academic medical centers.
• Data included 1,038 evaluation invitations sent by 56 sub-internship students.
• Evaluator type, gender, clinical site, and student gender were analyzed for association with completion rates.

Main Results:

• Overall evaluation completion rate was 63.4% (658/1,038).
• Completion rates were significantly higher for residents (74.5%) vs. advanced practice providers (55.6%).
• Female evaluators (67.5%) and evaluations at the university site (67.8%) showed higher completion rates compared to male evaluators (60.8%) and the community site (57.8%).

Conclusions:

• Evaluation completion in EM sub-internships is influenced by evaluator type, gender, and rotation site.
• Findings suggest practical strategies to enhance the equity and representativeness of student evaluations.
• Further multi-institutional studies are needed to confirm these trends and improve generalizability.