The ability to assess medical students or residents in various clinical settings requires a sound performance rating system.  The purpose of this session is to equip the participants with the knowledge and skills needed to methodically review their current performance evaluation system used to assess clinical performance so they can enhance their system’s usefulness and quality.  In this one-hour seminar, Dr. DaRosa will start by briefly summarizing lessons learned from the literature in and outside of medical education about common errors in performance rating systems.  The review will describe those cognitive, social, and environmental factors that influence ratings of clinical performance.  Participants will learn how to use a diagnostic checklist designed to identify problems in their performance rating systems, and guide and prioritize improvement efforts.  An overview will be provided on how to calibrate faculty expectations and ratings by employing “frame of reference” training.  The results of this type of training promote more consistent ratings among faculty.  Acquiring faculty consensus on the meaning of a “one” versus a “three” versus a “five” on a five-point rating scale is critical fair, reliable, and judicious ratings.  Finally, participants will learn about a strategy for helping faculty members write narratives about their learners’ clinical performance that help distinguish between outstanding, average, and marginal learners. 

In this seminar, Dr. DaRosa will address the pros and cons of performance ratings, the most common form of evaluation used to assess the clinical performance of medical students and residents.  The aim of this session is to heighten awareness of sources of error, and make recommendations on how participants might enhance the clinical performance systems used at their institutions.