How to do an Evaluation
Evaluations are completed on New Innovations. Evaluations have two components, a numeric component (based on level of competency from 1-5) and a comment component (where the evaluator provides important detail). Evaluations are done at different intervals that vary depending on the rotation and residency program.
-
Tip 1. The numbers
Remember, milestone level 4 is appropriate for senior residents/junior attending (generally at end of final training year) and level 5 is generally a senior attending (examples are “writes national guidelines” or “maintains specialty board certification”).
IMPORTANT: If you really feel that the resident is performing at a level 4 or 5, you should provide ample detailed documentation as to the reasons why.
To put it in perspective, we expect the TY residents to be at a level 1 when they start the PGY 1 year and to be around a level 2 by mid-year. Our goal is that they are at a level 2.5 to 3 for all milestones at end of TY year. An evaluation should not have the same number score for every milestone (an example being…all level 3 scores). It would be very rare for a resident to be at the same level of performance for every milestone. These types of evaluations are generally not accurate and provide little to resident growth.
-
Tip 2. The comments
By far the most powerful, helpful, effective and accurate component of evaluations are the comments made by the attending on the evaluation. The comments should be your FOCUS when evaluating a resident.
Comments must be done correctly in order to get most benefit. Vague comments such as “read more” or “expand your differential” or “resident needs to be more efficient” are not very helpful. The best comments (i.e. Grade A comments) are those that describe the specific Event/Situation with details and your reasoning. If you are providing constructive comments (i.e. negative feedback), the comments should also include an idea of how to address an issue. When comments are done in this manner, they tell the resident specifically WHAT they did well/did not do well. WHY they did it well/did not do it well and in the case of negative comments, HOW to work on the problem.
An example of Grade A comments is “Dr. X needs to read up on aortic dissection and pulmonary embolism. Dr. X seemed to have trouble differentiating these two conditions. Dr. X should focus on how each condition presents and how to differentiate the two conditions because the treatment for a PE can be lethal if given to a patient with an aortic dissection, so making the correct diagnosis is critical”. When making comments, at a minimum, you need to include specifically WHAT they did well/did not do well and WHY they did it well/did not do it well. This should refer to a specific event/instance.
-
Tip 3. Consistancy
Finally, when making comments they should be consistent with any numerical score/value that you mark on the evaluation. High numerical scores combined with negative comments or vice versa, only cause confusion for the resident and for the residency leadership.
Evaluation Background
Evaluations are an in-depth formal review of learner performance. Evaluations should always be written (never verbal). Evaluations are reported to the residency programs (for residents) and medical schools (for students). Evaluations are the residency program’s and medical school’s only means of tracking learner performance. They are used to spot patterns of strength and weakness and provide the basis for remediation plans. Evaluations help make the learners (residents & students) a better part of your team.
Evaluations should always be done on New Innovations. Click hear to go to New Innovations.
Evaluations are a part of “Talking about performance“ which is the third step of the “3T teaching blue print”. Follow the links to learn more about each of these concepts.
