Determining Component Weights in a Communications Assessment Using Judgmental Policy Capturing.

Objectives: Tools are needed for determining appropriate weights for complex performance assessment components in medical education. The feasibility of using judgmental policy capturing (JPC), a procedure to statistically describe the information processing strategies of experts, for this purpose was investigated.

Methods: Iterative JPC was used to determine appropriate weighting for the six core communication skill scores from a communications objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for medical students using a panel of four communication skill experts.

Communication assessment using the common ground instrument: psychometric properties.

Background And Objectives: Recent guidelines from the Association of American Medical Colleges and from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education strongly suggest that communications teaching and assessment be part of medical education at all levels. This study's objective was to validate an instrument to assess communications skills. This instrument, Common Ground, is linked to the core, generic communication skills emphasized by the consensus statements of Toronto and Kalamazoo.