Evaluation of a psychiatric clerkship by videotape

The authors used a videotape-based objective examination ingeneral psychiatry to assess the clinical competence of medical students who had completed their third-year clerkship. The test has been shown to be a reliable, valid measure of clinical competence. Subjective faculty grading related positively to test scores. Students on one ward had significantly lower overall test scores, with particularly low scores on clinical judgement questions. However, faculty grades for these students were not significantly different. This suggests that the faculty was unable to assess the relative efficacy of its own teaching. The test can provide objective assessment of student clinical competence and is a means of program evaluation.