Relationship between clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills in standardized-patient assessment

Purpose. To evaluate the relationship between clinical competence and inter personal and communication skills, in an attempt to clarify current thinkin g about these two dimensions as measured with standardized-patient (SP) exa minations. Method. Simple Pearson correlations were computed between total examination scores for clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills. Three sets of different types of data involving 15 separate examinations w ere used to explore the generality of the findings. To control for a within -case halo effect and measurement error, corrected cross-half correlations and corrected cross case correlations were also computed. Results. The simple correlations and the corrected cross-half and cross-cas e correlations showed moderate and above relationships between these two di mensions in the clinical context. The simple correlations centered around . 50, and the corrected cross-half and cross-case correlations were slightly higher, centering around .65 and .70 respectively. Conclusion. The authors' thinking is that the moderate relationship between clinical competence and interpersonal and communication skills is not due to a flaw in the measurement of clinical competence, as has been suggested, but rather is a natural consequence of the clinical encounter, which exact s an interdependence of these two dimensions. At least, this possibility mu st be seriously considered so medical educators can think and act appropria tely in the assessment of clinical performance.