Is The Assessment of Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes in Anesthesiology Clerkships Balanced?

Kim, Kyung Han

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was performed to evaluate whether the student knowledge, skills, and attitudes in anesthesiology clerkships were properly assessed in 18 medical schools. METHODS: The author examined the survey questionnaire returned from anesthesiology professors of 8 medical schools planning to be accredited and self-assessed reports published by 10 accredited medical schools. RESULTS: The student knowledge (50%) was given a higher value in the evaluation than skills (25%) and attitudes (25%). The student knowledge was mainly evaluated using oral/written examinations, reports, recording of patient's data, and case/article presentations. The student attitude was assessed using only attitudes and attendance items. At more than half of the 13 schools, student skills were assessed based on 15 skills including insertion of iv line, intubation, blood pressure measurement, airway keep, CPR, monitoring, iv fluid /transfusion setting, arterial blood gas and Ambu 'bagging' in order of frequency. However, student skills were not evaluated in 3 of the 18 schools. CONCLUSION: The evaluation process should be performed adequately for student knowledge, skills and attitudes in anesthesiology clerkships. Moreover, It is inappropriate to include attendance in the student's attitude evaluation as attendance is mandatory in clinical clerkship. These results suggest that the student's clinical performance (i.e., skills and attitudes) should be evaluated objectively by using OSCE, or CPX.