Documenting clinical performance problems among medical students: feedback for learner remediation and curriculum enhancement

Introduction We operationalized the taxonomy developed by Hauer and colleagues describing common clinical performance problems. Faculty raters pilot tested the resulting worksheet by observing recordings of problematic simulated clinical encounters involving third-year medical students. This approach provided a framework for structured feedback to guide learner improvement and curricular enhancement. Methods Eighty-two problematic clinical encounters from M3 students who failed their clinical competency examination were independently rated by paired clinical faculty members to identify common problems related to the medical interview, physical examination, and professionalism. Results Eleven out of 26 target performance problems were present in 25% or more encounters. Overall, 37% had unsatisfactory medical interviews, with 'inadequate history to rule out other diagnoses' most prevalent (60%). Seventy percent failed because of physical examination deficiencies, with missing elements (69%) and inadequate data gathering (69%) most common. One-third of the students did not introduce themselves to their patients. Among students failing based on standardized patient (SP) ratings, 93% also failed to demonstrate competency based on the faculty ratings. Conclusions Our review form allowed clinical faculty to validate pass/fail decisions based on standardized patient ratings. Detailed information about performance problems contributes to learner feedback and curricular enhancement to guide remediation planning and faculty development.