Assessment instrument

This Instrument forCommunication skills andProfessionalismAssessment (InCoPrA) was developed, reviewed, pilot-tested, and revised by the study investigators, taking into consideration the ACGME definition of competencies and existing tools used for other OSCE scenarios and competencies evaluation [21, 25, 26] and the feedback provided during the pilot testing. Professionalism was defined as the commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities and an adherence to ethical principles with integrity, compassion, honesty and respect while responding to patients’ needs and managing their healthcare appropriately. Interpersonal and communication skills were defined as the ability to effectively communicate clearly, directly, thoroughly and responsibly with the patients, their families, and healthcare team members while maintain comprehensive knowledge of medical records and pertinent information.

The instrument piloting process had three forms or parts; 1) evaluation of trainees by Faculty; 2) evaluation of trainees by SP; and 3) trainee self-administered survey. The faculty and SP instrument forms use a 3-point Likert-like scale for the different questions (outstanding; satisfactory; and unsatisfactory). Six domains are addressed in the SP and faculty assessments (the context of discussion, communication and detection of error, management of the error, empathy, use of EMR and EMIR, and a global rating). Faculty and SPs are provided with a manual for the instrument that suggests questions/checklist of items that can be used to rate each category. The instrument is included with the oneline-only material (Additional file 1).

The self-evaluation survey by residents consists of asking them about how they self-rate their general skills of EMR and EMIR use, and then rating their performance after the encounter for comparison. Also, they are asked to rate how realistic the medical error scenario encounter felt, how comfortable they were using EMR and EMIR during the encounter, and how often they receive feedback from someone during their current training on the use of such resources. Additionally, they were asked to disclose if they received training using EMR or EMIR during medical school and/or residency, if they think it is helpful to receive more training, and if yes, which level they think it might be helpful.