CLINICAL COMPETENCE OF INTERNS

A clinical supervisors rating form addressing 13 competencies was used to assess the clinical competence of graduates one year after qualifi cation in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Data from 485 interns (97. 2%) showed that graduates from the problem-based medical school were r ated significantly better than their peers with respect to their inter personal relationships, 'reliability' and 'self-directed learning'. In terns from one of the two traditional NSW medical schools had signific antly higher ratings on 'teaching', 'diagnostic skills' and 'understan ding of basic mechanisms'. Graduates from international medical school s performed worse than their peers on all competencies. These results were adjusted for age and gender. Additionally, women graduates and yo unger interns tended to have better ratings. Junior doctors have diffe ring educational and other background experiences and their performanc e should be monitored.