What Competencies Do Senior Students Set Out to Improve?: A Mixed Methods Study of Goals

1. What Competencies Do Senior Students Set Out to Improve?: A Mixed Methods Study of Goals Leila Stallworth MD, Christie Palladino MD MSc, Lisa Leggio MD, Valera Hudson MD, Rachel Whitaker ScM and Deborah Richardson PhD Department of Pediatrics Medical College of Georgia at GHSU, Augusta, GA Background Distribution of Goals (n=190) Results • COMSEP/APPD recently published a Pediatric Subinternship Curriculum: • Bridges the gap between third year pediatrics clerkship and the first year of residency training. • Learning objectives organized around the six ACGME core competencies Objectives • To examine goals created by senior students themselves and correlate these goals with the six ACGME competencies • Additionally, to evaluate the goals by clinical site, time of year of the rotation and specificity of the goals • Goals written in the Neonatal ICU (p ≤ .01) and Newborn Nursery (p = .03) were significantly more likely to be specific than goals written on the General Inpatient rotation • Specificity varied significantly by clinical site (p ≤ .01), but competency category did not (p=.15) Method Conclusions • Students submitted self-directed goals as part of a required online portfolio • After IRB approval, we extracted de-identified goals of all senior students entering Pediatrics from 2008-2010 • We categorized each written goal by (1) one of the six ACGME competencies and (2) by general or specific goals • Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests and multivariate modeling were used to compare goal categories by rotation site and time of year • Most goals addressed patient care → students may need help from a mentor to identify areas for improvement in other competencies • Most goals were general, which are less likely to be attained → need for goal setting training • Students’ expectations may vary at different clinical sites • Faculty at all sites should be encouraged to help students create professionalism and systems-based practice goals References . . • 1. ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Pediatrics. (Accessed February 12, 2011, at • http://acgme.org/acWebsite/downloads/RRCprogReq/320 pediatrics_07012007.pdf.) • 2. COMSEP and APPD Pediatric Subinternship Curriculum. (Accessed February 12, 2011, at http://www.comsep.org/Curriculum/pdfs/COMSEP-APPDF.pdf.) • 3. McCullagh P, Nelder J. Generalized Linear Models 2nd ed. Boca Raton: Chapman & Hall/CRC; 1989. Presented at the Southern Group on Educational Affairs Regional Conference, Houston, TX 04/15/2011