The Resident, the Student, and the Competencies: A guide on how to use the competencies as criteria for evaluating faculty-resident-student interaction
Barry D. Mann, MD, Paula M. Termuhlen, MD, and Michael Ujiki, MD
During the 2005 Surgical Education Week in New York City, the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) and Association for Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) cosponsored a program for students and residents entitled, The Resident, the Student, and the Competencies. Thirty medical schools sent resident-student pairs to participate in the project.
During the course of their three days at the meeting, resident-student pairs participated in three special student-resident sessions in which the objectives were to consider the ACGME Competencies from the point of view of the student and resident. They worked together to develop a compilation within each competency of "best resident-student interactions" and "resident-student interactions to be avoided."
In preparation for the meeting, the resident-student pair was required to brainstorm together to list within each competency three "best behaviors" and three "behaviors which should be avoided." When combined, these lists (compiled from the 30 student-resident pairs) contained 75-90 ideas of "bests" and "avoids" within each competency. These lists were collated into a resource book for the student-resident participants at the ASE/APDS meeting.
The first student-resident session was introduced by ASE and APDS members who defined core definitions of the competencies from a surgeon's viewpoint and rendered personal statements addressing the "value of the particular competency to me as a surgeon." The faculty participants also offered examples of behaviors for which "I give kudos" and behaviors for which "I would call a resident/student into the office for discussion!"
To ascertain that participants had a relatively unified understanding of the intent and scope of the competencies, students and residents next met in small groups with faculty facilitators to discuss specific ethical dilemmas (contributed by the participants prior to the meeting) in light of the competencies as they had been defined.
The resident-student discussion on day two of the conference convened immediately following David Leach's keynote address on the Formation of Surgical Residents: Competence and Character. Students and residents again met in small groups to select from the previously compiled lists what they considered to be the 10-15 most important "bests" and "avoids" in each competency. These selections were assembled into PowerPoint presentations and subsequently presented and discussed over breakfast on day three of this event.
The result of this exercise represents a student-resident translation of abstract competency definitions into concrete behaviors at the student-resident level and reflects the trainee's view from the educational trenches.
The lists of behaviors which resulted demonstrate that there is a natural overlap in the competencies, as numerous "ideal behaviors" and "behaviors to avoid" were repeated in more than one competency. The need to demonstrate respect for ancillary hospital personnel, for example, was considered as a positive behavior in communication and interpersonal skills, professionalism, and the system-based competency.
For the purpose of this Web article, the compiled lists of exemplary behaviors and behaviors to be avoided were re-worked into a checklist format. It is our hope that these checklists will be helpful to residents and program directors in using the competencies as criteria for evaluating the dynamic of faculty-resident-student interaction on the surgical service. These checklists can be used for self-evaluation, peer evaluation, 360 degree evaluation, and/or faculty evaluation.
- Checklist for Role-modeling Behaviors Associated with COMMUNICATION AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS (30K PDF)
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With thanks to the members of the ASE and APDS who served as facilitators
| Institution | Resident Name | Student Name |
| Albany Medical College | Saum Rahimi | Adi Abramovici |
| Brigham and Women's Hosp. | Jake Greenberg | Eric Sheu |
| Columbia University | Steve Xydas | John Kirkham |
| Indiana University | Jennifer Choi | Alyssa Wait |
| Johns Hopkins | Michael Awad | Kelly Olino |
| Lankenau Hospital | Ryan Hoffman | Kathryn Pool |
| McMaster University | Yvonne Ying | Navjot Chaudhary |
| Medical College of Georgia | Adeline Deladisma | Christopher Killingsworth |
| Mount Sinai - New York | Scott Nguyen | Linda Zhang |
| Northwestern University | Mike Ujiki | Ben Levi |
| Penn State | Tamer Ahmed | Rouzbeh Daylami |
| Rush University Med. Center | Edward Hollinger | Catherine Pesce |
| Stanford University | Anthony Carfelli | Catherine Mohr |
| SUNY Downstate | Sajani Shah | Sean Rim |
| Thomas Jefferson University | Niels Martin | Carson Campe |
| Univ. of Illinois - Chicago | Adnan Alseidi | Noam Belkind |
| Univ. of Illinois - Peoria | Jennifer Ash | Steven Tsoraides |
| Univ. of Southern California | Robert Kim | Vince Nguyen |
| University of New Mexico | Libby Watch | unable to attend |
| University of Oklahoma | Stephanie Dreiling | Amber Wooten |
| University of Rochester | Dina Elaraj | Derek Masden |
| University of Texas - Galveston | Brittany DeBerry | Kanika Bowen |
| University of Texas - Houston | Sam Atallah | Marshall Smith |
| University of Virginia | Brendon Stiles | Ann Vaughters |
| University of Wisconsin | Ann O'Rourke | Sandeepa Musunuru |
| Virginia Commonwealth Univ. | Jennifer Reed | Nicole Kissane |
| Washington University | Jeremy Goodman | Gita Mody |
| Wright State University | Thomas Stamp | Shannon Armstrong |
With thanks to the members of the ASE and APDS who served as facilitators for The Resident, the Student, and the Competencies
| Linnea Hauge, PhD | David Rogers, MD, FACS |
| Kim Anderson, PhD | John Kairys, MD, FACS |
| Susan Kaiser, MD, PhD, FACS | Kim Ephgrave, MD, FACS |
| Pam Rowlands, PhD | R. Matthew Walsh, MD, FACS |
| Reed Williams, PhD | Walter Pofahl, MD, FACS |
| Sean Harbison, MD, FACS | Chris Brandt, MD, FACS |
| Hilary Sanfey, MD, FACS | Robert Noone, MD, FACS |
| Phillip Wolfson, MD, FACS | Thomas Lynch, MD, FACS |
| Joel Rosenfeld, MD, FACS | Rebecca Evangelisti, MD |
Revised January 31, 2006