Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

Background: Responding to mandates from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA), residency programs have developed competency-based assessment tools. One such tool is the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians (ACOP) program directors' annual report. High-stakes clinical skills licensing examinations, such as the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination Level 2-Performance Evaluation (COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE), also assess competency in several clinical domains. Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between program director competency ratings of first-year osteopathic residents in pediatrics andCOMLEX-USALevel 2-PE scores from2005 to 2009. Methods: The sample included all 94 pediatric first-year residents who took COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE and whose training was reviewed by the ACOP for approval of training between 2005 and 2009. Program director competency ratings and COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE scores (domain and component) were merged and analyzed for relationships. Results: Biomedical/biomechanical domain scores were positively correlated with overall program director competency ratings. Humanistic domain scores were not significantly correlated with overall program director competency ratings, but did showmoderate correlation with ratings for interpersonal and communication skills. The six ACGME or seven AOA competencies assessed empirically by the ACOP program directors' annual report could not be recovered by principal component analysis; instead, three factors were identified, accounting for 86% of the variance between competency ratings. Discussion: Afew significant correlations were noted between COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE scores and program director competency ratings. Exploring relationships between different clinical skills assessments is inherently difficult because of the heterogeneity of tools used and overlap of constructs within the AOA andACGMEcore competencies. © 2011 Erik E. Langenau et al.

Publication Title

Medical Education Online

Volume

16

Issue

1

Comments

This article was published in Medical Education Online, Volume 16, Issue 1, Pages - .

The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v16i0.7362.

Copyright © 2011 Langenau et al.

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