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The relationship between preceptor expectations and student performance on 2 pediatric objective structured clinical
M H Malloy1, L Perkowski, M Callaway
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-0526, USA. mmalloy@utmb.edu
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine
|August 13, 1998
Summary
This study found that while preceptors agree on essential pediatric clinical competencies, there
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Pediatrics
- Clinical Competency Assessment
Background:
- Evaluated third-year medical students' performance in pediatric clerkship rotations.
- Utilized two Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) stations: anemia (lead exposure) and failure-to-gain-weight (breast-feeding).
- Assessed students completing a 12-week multidisciplinary ambulatory clerkship.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the correlation between community preceptor expectations and student performance on OSCE stations.
- To identify alignment and discrepancies in perceived and actual clinical skills.
- To inform medical education strategies for pediatric clerkships.
Main Methods:
- Developed a 46-item survey for preceptors, mirroring OSCE checklists.
- Calculated percentage agreement among preceptors and between preceptors and students.
- Correlated preceptor and student summary scores for each OSCE station.
Main Results:
- High preceptor agreement on essential knowledge areas for anemia (89%) and growth delay (92%) cases.
- Significant variation in preceptor agreement on specific checklist items.
- Low correlation between preceptor expectations and student performance (anemia: r=0.19; growth delay: r=-0.41).
Conclusions:
- Community preceptors concur on core pediatric knowledge areas for student competence.
- Discrepancies exist between preceptor beliefs on expected student actions and observed student performance.
- Overall agreement between preceptor expectations and student performance is comparable to chance.