We designed a post-test only study in which subjects served as their own controls. The purpose of our study was to determine the impact of the narrative description of clinical performance compared to the final adjective on the reviewer’s assessment of applicant desirability. Currently, within the same applicant pool for any given year, some MSPEs contain final adjectives and others do not. While studies have looked at the value placed on clinical grades contained in the MSPE compared to class rank, there are no studies assessing the weight given to the narrative description of clinical performance versus the final adjective by faculty members when ranking applicants. Mallott suggested that many program directors focus primarily or solely on the final adjective when evaluating the MSPE. However, if a medical school does not provide a school-wide comparison then the final adjective or overall rating should not be included.
#AAMC NOTEWORTHY CHARACTERISTICS FULL#
The 2016 AAMC statement also recommends that if a final adjective is used, the MSPE should list the full range of descriptors and the percentage of students falling into each comparison group. Examples of final adjectives include ‘outstanding,’ ‘superior,’ ‘very good,’ and ‘qualified.’ Currently there is no standard set of comparative descriptors used by every US medical school. This term has often informally been referred to as the bottom line. The 2016 recommendations of the AAMC refer to this assessment as the final adjective or the overall rating. These guidelines recommended a specific format, which included the traditional narratives describing performance during clinical rotations and a summative assessment of the student’s overall performance relative to his or her peers if a school-wide comparison of the applicant is made. In 2002, in response to concerns about the value of the dean’s letter, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) published guidelines for the letter, including changing the name to the MSPE to reflect its purpose as an evaluation of the student’s performance rather than a recommendation.
#AAMC NOTEWORTHY CHARACTERISTICS PROFESSIONAL#
The MSPE, formerly known as the ‘dean’s letter,’ aims to provide a comprehensive assessment for residency program directors of a student’s noteworthy characteristics, professional behaviors, salient experiences, and academic achievements. Program directors have indicated that the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) is an important factor used by 94% of directors. Residency programs consider multiple factors when ranking applicants for the National Residency Match Program. Subjects were significantly less likely to rank the applicants congruent with the strength of the narratives when the strength of the final adjectives conflicted with the strength of the narrative 42.9% of study letters were ranked congruent with the narrative versus 82.1% of controls ( p = 0.0001).Ĭonclusion: The MSPE final adjective had a greater impact than the narrative description of performance on the determination of applicant desirability.Ībbreviations: MSPE: Medical Student Performance Evaluation AAMC: Association of American Medical Colleges BCM: Baylor College of Medicine Results: The proportion of rankings congruent with the strength of the narratives under study and control conditions were compared. Subjects ranked the relative desirability of the two applicants in each pair. The subject was then presented with a second pair of letters without final adjectives (control). Each subject was first presented with a pair of letters with mismatched final adjective (study), i.e., the letter with the stronger narrative was presented with the weaker final adjective and vice versa. Two final adjectives describing relative class ranks were created. In each pair, the narrative in one letter was superior to that in the other. Objective: We hypothesize that the inclusion of a final adjective in the MSPE affects a reviewer’s assessment of the applicant’s desirability more than the narrative description of performance and designed a study to evaluate this hypothesis.ĭesign: Fifty-six faculty members from the Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine with experience reviewing MSPEs as part of the intern selection process reviewed two pairs of mock MSPE letters. In 2002, the Association of American Medical Colleges’ guideline for preparation of the MSPE recommended inclusion of a comparative summative assessment of the student’s overall performance relative to his/her peers ( final adjective). The MSPE contains a narrative description of the applicant’s performance during medical school. Background: The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) is a primary source of information used by residency programs in their selection of trainees.
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