Self-evaluation by residents in family medicine

Accurate self-evaluation is central to a family physician's professional growth both during and after the residency training period. Self-evaluations of residents' interviewing skills, as demonstrated in videotaped interviews with simulated patients, were compared to multiple faculty evaluations as part of an annual assessment. Means for resident evaluations were lower and showed greater variations than faculty ratings but correlated significantly in several areas. Inter-rater reliability coefficients were highest when criteria were most specific. Residents benefited from the opportunity to compare and discuss their perceptions with those of objective and competent raters.