Abstract Manager

Oral

OB2-1-4

Accept

I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.

no

General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)

Oral

Education Innovation

Other

Faculty

no

Assessing Professionalism: what works and what does not

Numerous instruments exist to assess professionalism in undergraduate medical schools. These include self-administered rating scales, direct observation, multi-source feedback (including peer assessment), patient opinion, and simulation. Challenges in using these tools include feasibility and alignment with overarching objectives of the respective institutions. We underwent an exploration of different methods and set out to improve our assessment of professionalism at the undergraduate level.

A Professionalism Working Group was created, tasked with exploring options to improve our ability to define and assess professionalism qualities that we expect of our graduates. Pilots were conducted using peer and self assessment as potential models in pre-clerkship. Peer feedback was anonymized and given to learners by their tutors. Additionally, guided self-reflection was used to help learners assimilate their own observations with those of their peers and tutors. In clerkship, changes to the assessment of professionalism and its position and priority on our In-Training Evaluation Reports (ITERs) were made. It was found that peer assessment during our longitudinal Professional Competencies course aligned with observations of professionalism by our tutorial faculty. At the clerkship level, making the assessment of professionalism a priority by placing it at the forefront of all clerkship ITERs, addressed some previously unmasked hidden curriculum issues of professionalism being a secondary or tertiary goal. Following the changes, there was a significant increase in the amount of actionable assessment targets.

Prioritizing professionalism assessment at the undergraduate level leads to improved quality of assessment narratives. Corrective action, if necessary, can thus be implemented at a much earlier stage in a very transparent way. Approaches to assessment of professionalism need to be multifaceted and in keeping with programmatic assessment principles. Garnering the input of numerous stakeholders and willingness to pilot assessment initiatives can enhance existing assessment modalities.

professionalism

assessment

Undergraduate

Assessment

Undergraduate

Professionalism

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes