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Predicting medical student success in a clinical clerkship by rating students' nonverbal behavior
N D Rosenblum1, M Wetzel, O Platt
1Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Objective:
To evaluate the relative contribution of affective and cognitive skills to ratings of students' clinical performance by their supervisors.
Methods:
Each students' nonverbal behavior was analyzed by examining 33 nonverbal behavioral characteristics in videotape of each of 36 students interviewing a parent or patient three times during a 4-week pediatric clerkship. These ratings were then compared with the student's formal academic evaluation.
Results:
The 33 nonverbal behavioral characteristics rated for each student were reduced to five composite variables. Three of these correlated significantly with the final grade, providing an affective profile of the highly rated student. Regression analysis of the five composite variables revealed that affective skills accounted for at least 46% of the variance in the students' final grades (multiple R = .68, P = .0015).
Conclusions:
Ratings of students' affective characteristics were highly related to clinical evaluations in this pediatric setting. Students who were evaluated highly had a specific affective profile that could be described by analysis of their nonverbal behaviors.