Correlation of student performance on clerkship with quality of medical chart documentation in a simulation setting

Abstract

Background: Medical chart documentation is an essential skill acquired in a clinical clerkship (CC). However, the utility of medical chart writing simulations as a component of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has not been sufficiently evaluated. In this study, medical chart documentation in several clinical simulation settings was performed as part of the OSCE, and its correlation with CC performance was evaluated.

Methods: We created a clinical situation video and images involving the acquisition of informed consent, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and diagnostic imaging in the emergency department, and assessed medical chart documentation performance by medical students as part of the OSCE. Evaluations were conducted utilizing original checklist (0-10 point). We also analyzed the correlation between medical chart documentation OSCE scores and CC performance of 120 medical students who performed their CC in 2019 as 5th year students and took the Post-CC OSCE in 2020 as 6th year students.

Results: Of the OSCE components, scores for the acquisition of informed consent and resuscitation showed significant correlations with CC performance (P<0.001 for each). In contrast, scores for diagnostic imaging showed a slightly positive, but non-significant, correlation with CC performance (P = 0.107). Overall scores for OSCE showed a significant correlation with CC performance (P<0.001).

Conclusion: We conducted a correlation analysis of CC performance and the quality of medical chart documentation in a simulation setting. Our results suggest that medical chart documentation can be one possible alternative component in the OSCE.

Fig 1. Timeline of medical student curriculum as related to the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and Clinical Clerkship (CC).

In 2020, we assessed only the official components for the post-CC OSCE due to the COVID-19 pandemic.