DIMENSIONS OF CLINICAL COMPETENCE AS CONCEPTUALIZED BY MEDICAL-SCHOOLFACULTY

This study identified dimensions of clinical competence underlying fac ulty ratings of fourth-year student performance in a standardized pati ent examination and assessed the impact of these dimensions on faculty pass/fail decisions. Content review coupled with exploratory factor a nalysis was used to group 17 of 25 specific behavioral raring categori es into four homogeneous clusters. Confirmatory factor analysis refine d the clusters into four unidimensional scales that included 14 of the original ratings. The dimensions reflected relating to the patient pr oblem-solving skills, medical history skills, and physical examination skills. The factor structure war cross-validated in a separate data s et. Logistic regression indicated problem solving war the only indepen dent predictor of a student passing the exercise.