Evaluation Process

Once all of the examination scores are available, the nurse instructor meets with the student’s mentor. They review the entire student portfolio, discuss the student’s performance and recommend a final grade for the student. The Student Progress Committee of the Department of Surgery reviews this recommendation and a final grade is assigned. Access to Evaluation Material Team evaluations are anonymous until the completion of the clerkship. The student may review all of the evaluation material at the end of the clerkship by making an appointment with his or her nurse instructor. A grade is not final until the Student Progress Committee of the Department of Surgery assigns it. No information will be given to students about the final grade until this committee has concluded its deliberation. Any information that the student might receive from any source regarding the final grade should be viewed as preliminary. Honors is achievable by receiving an exceptional evaluation in all three areas of the medical school official final clerkship evaluation. These include: Knowledge & Reasoning = NBME > 78 Clinical Performance = Team Evaluations average overall > 7.0 & Standardized Patient Exam > the average score Non-Cognitive Behavior = Team Evaluations average overall > 7.2 Frequently Expressed Concerns

1. It is so difficult to get Honors for the surgery clerkship that there is no point in trying.

There is no specific goal for the percentage of students in each clerkship group that receive the grade of Honors. The grade of Honors is earned by demonstrating an exceptional performance in all three areas evaluated by the medical school. This remarkable level of performance is accomplished by approximately 15% of students each year.

2. Some clerkship groups are composed of smarter people and so it is harder to get Honors in those groups.

The mean of the NBME score showed no variation between clerkship groups in the last academic year suggesting that the groups are roughly equivalent. The only group characteristic that is used to evaluate students is the standardized patient examination mean and standard deviation. This value has been reasonably stable through the year.

3. Residents and faculty with whom the student has had little contact complete the subjective evaluations.

The evaluations are distributed to residents on the team where the student is assigned. Evaluations are distributed to faculty that the student indicates that he or she has worked with in this time interval. Evaluators are instructed not to complete a student evaluation if they do not feel that they have had adequate contact with that student.

4. The subjective evaluation grades are dependent on the faculty and residents with whom the student works.

The faculty and residents demonstrate the same “rater tendencies” that are common to all groups of evaluators. Some evaluators tend to be stricter (hawks) and some more lenient (doves). Coincidentally, medical students show these same tendencies when evaluating the teaching ability of residents and faculty. Gathering as many subjective ratings as possible is the best method for overcoming the effect of these tendencies and developing an accurate assessment of the student performance.

5. The evaluation system is unfair because I only missed Honors based on my performance on one examination.

The Department of Surgery uses a number of different assessment tools in order to best evaluate the overall student performance. Standards for specific grades were developed based on the goals of the clerkship and the best available guidelines for the use of each assessment tool. The evaluation system and standards are reviewed annually to assure that they are serving the purpose of differentiating between levels of student performance. As an issue of fairness, the standards must be applied to all students in a class at SIU SOM.

SECURE EXAMINATION POLICY:
All examinations of the clerkship are "secure" in accordance with the following SIU School of Medicine policy.
"No medical student shall possess, deliver or otherwise use any examination or portion thereof classified as "secure" for any purpose other than completion of the examination as part of required curriculum activities at the direction of a School of Medicine faculty member or for personally conducting a post-examination review of his or her performance with the specific authorization of a School of Medicine faculty member. An examination shall be classified as secure if the words "Warning-Secure Examination" or similar language appears on the examination, or if the examination is accompanied by a separate cover sheet declaring the examination to be secure as described above. Any violation of this policy will be treated as a violation of the standards of professional conduct under Section 3-102 of the School of Medicine's Student Progress System (SPS)."