Purpose Clinical reasoning is often assessed through patient notes (PNs) following standardized patient (SP) encounters. While nonclinicians can score PNs using analytic tools such as checklists, these do not sufficiently encompass the holistic judgments of clinician faculty. To better model faculty judgments, the authors developed checklists with faculty-specified scoring formulas embedded in spreadsheets and studied the resulting interrater reliability (IRR) of nonclinician raters (SPs and medics) and student pass/fail status. Method In Study 1, nonclinician and faculty raters rescored PNs of 55 third-year medical students across 5 cases of the 2017 Graduation Competency Examination (GCE) to determine IRR. In Study 2, nonclinician raters scored all notes of the 5-case 2018 GCE (178 students). Faculty rescored all notes of failing students and could modify formula-derived scores if faculty felt appropriate. Faculty also rescored and corrected scores of additional notes for a total of 90 notes (3 cases, including failing notes). Results Mean overall percent exact agreement between nonclinician and faculty ratings was 87% (weighted kappa, 0.86) and 83% (weighted kappa, 0.88) for Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. SP and medic IRRs did not differ significantly. Four students failed the note section in 2018; 3 passed after faculty corrections. Few corrections were made to nonfailing students’ notes. Conclusions Nonclinician PN raters using checklists and scoring rules may provide a feasible alternative to faculty raters for low-stakes assessments and for the bulk of well-performing students. Faculty effort can be targeted strategically at rescoring notes of low-performing students and providing more detailed feedback.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.