Diagnosing technical competence in six bedside procedures: comparing checklists and a global rating scale in the assessment of resident performance.

Purpose: To compare procedure-specific checklists and a global rating scale in assessing technical competence.

Method: Two trained raters used procedure-specific checklists and a global rating scale to independently evaluate 218 video-recorded performances of six bedside procedures of varying complexity for technical competence. The procedures were completed by 47 residents participating in a formative simulation-based objective structured clinical examination at the University of Calgary in 2011.