Validity and importance of low ratings given medical graduates in noncognitive areas

The extent to which recent (1978-1981) graduates of one medical school received low ratings on 10 items concerning noncognitive aspects of professional behavior is presented and related to ratings on items dealing with knowledge, data-gathering skills, and clinical judgment. Overall, only 3 percent of the graduates had low ratings on the noncognitive items. Despite high correlations among ratings in the four areas of professional competence (knowledge, data-gathering, clinical judgment, and professional attitudes), 40 percent of the graduates with low ratings on noncognitive items had high ratings in at least two of the areas. The validity of the ratings is tested by relating them to the willingness of residency supervisors to offer the graduates further postgraduate training and to clinical ratings received in the third year of medical school. Substantial relationships are shown both with the residency offer and medical school ratings for graduates with high and low ratings.