Tutor Group Assessments (TGAs): Criteria Based Monitoring of Medical Student Performance, Participation and Behavior in Small (Tutor) Group Sessions in a Problem Based Learning Curriculum

Abstract

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine developed and initiated a Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum 27 years ago, in 1990, for ½ of the medical school class. Owing to success, this approach was expanded to the entire class in year 2000 and we have maintained the PBL approach to date. In our theme‐based PBL curricular units, students are placed into faculty‐facilitated small groups of 6–8 (~Tutor Group, TG) for the entirety of any particular Unit (approx. 3 months). Students, and their faculty tutor, meet 3h/3x/week across approximately 2 years to develop learning issues, discuss clinical and basic science topics, generate and refine differential diagnoses, etc., and learn about the process of doctoring through electronic simulated patient cases. Participation of each student in TG is essential and expected. Moreover, participation is highly valuable to inculcate professionalism, seek, gain and offer knowledge, develop communication skills, develop diagnostic reasoning, etc. Accordingly, we have developed an assessment tool to monitor student performance in the TG process. Periodic TGAs (Tutor Group Assessments) allow students to both provide and receive feedback about performance and other attributes of TG participation. Initially, our TGAs were open‐ended forms that gave both the students and the tutor a forum to discuss any aspect of the tutor group process. This resulted in inconsistencies between groups and curricular units and complacency in the process, and it sometimes left students unsure of what is expected from them. In an effort to standardize TGAs and provide a more consistent method of evaluation between the different groups and units, we created a rubric style TGA form to evaluate the most critical components of tutor group performance. We modeled our new TGAs after the ACGME's rubrics for residency milestones because we wanted students to more accurately and objectively characterize their own, and their peers', performance in TG. This style of assessment is more robust than before because it combines a Likert scale with subjective comments, providing objective context to assessment categories for students and faculty (tutors) to evaluate performance. In conclusion, since adopting the new TGA approach, our students are now more aware of their specific strengths and/or deficiencies (apart from test scores) and can use the TGAs to better target improvements in their group performance. The new TGA also provides a more consistent longitudinal measurement of student performance throughout the curriculum and provides valuable insights into student behavior over time.Support or Funding InformationSupported by SIU School of Medicine