Tracking Peer Professionalism Measures in Preclinical Medical Students

Abstract

Professionalism is a key competency in first year medical gross anatomy instruction, yet there is a paucity of longitudinal studies addressing professionalism attributes into year 2. This study longitudinally compared 160 preclinical medical students’ peer professionalism evaluations in two small group settings (year 1 anatomy lab and year 2 team-based learning (TBL) sessions) for 2013–2014 and 2014–2015. Students were evaluated by their small group peers on a scale (0–3) on five professionalism domains (teamwork, honor/integrity, caring/compassion/communication, respect, responsibility/accountability) at mid-term and end of semester in years 1 and 2. Statistical comparisons were made between the formative (mid-gross) and summative (post-gross) anatomy ratings and between the summative anatomy (post-gross) and mid-term TBL (mid-iTBL) ratings. Anatomy professionalism evaluations showed a significant increase from an average ranking of 2.49 at mid-term to 2.6 at the end of the semester, with increases in teamwork, honor/integrity, caring/compassion/communication, and respect. Summative anatomy evaluations (post-gross) were compared to mid-term second year TBL (mid-iTBL), showing significant increases in peer professionalism rankings with improvements in teamwork, honor/integrity, responsibility/accountability, and respect. Significant improvements in peer evaluated professionalism were observed in multiple domains over time in the anatomy lab, with the exception of responsibility and accountability. These gains were maintained into year 2 TBL evaluations, with the exception of caring, compassion, and communication, suggesting that graded peer evaluation may improve professionalism behavior in small group settings.