Negative fourth year evaluation feedback

[LatteColoredDO]

Hi everyone, quick question. I recently received an evaluation from a program I completed a sub-I for. I assumed they liked me because I was offered an interview and the interview has already occurred and I received great verbal feedback.

However today, my clinical coordinator emailed me the evaluation from one of the faculty at this program and while a majority of the scoring was was 3 and 4 (out of 4), I was given 2's on random aspects of the evaluation, which has never happened to me before.

I have to email our clinical dean an explanation of the lower scoring points of my evaluation. I'm in the middle of interviews and I'm freaking out about this negative evaluation because I thought I performed well on the rotation. Is this grounds to get disciplined?

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[RunsOnCaffeine]

Sounds like the program submitting the evaluation didn't understand the grading system if it wasn't clear. Idk why your school has the explanation policy if you passed, but can't imagine there would be discipline for it, unless it was related to something unprofessional.

 

[Spectreman]

Yep, I’m sure the program just didn’t understand the implications of putting a 2 for some of the fields.

 

[Neopolymath]

Just nod your head a lot and be polite. You didn't fail and it's fourth year after apps are out. That's the only goal for evals at this point. If you don't have performance issues to evaluate and this was just a grading scale interpretation issue on their part then you need to forget about it and move on with your life. Just write your BS email to your school and forget about it. Good luck on your interviews.

 

[CocoMelon0531]

Rank the program last on your rank list or not at all. That’s the only option for you.

 

[DO2015CA]

Rank the program last on your rank list or not at all. That’s the only option for you.

Not necessarily. A 2 can be the acceptable grade at their program. 2 acceptable, 3 above expected, 4 perform individually. At that point you’d expect a medical student to be mainly 2 & 3s

 

[CocoMelon0531]

Not necessarily. A 2 can be the acceptable grade at their program. 2 acceptable, 3 above expected, 4 perform individually. At that point you’d expect a medical student to be mainly 2 & 3s

Not when they received GREAT VERBAL FEEDBACK.

That's a red flag in my book.

 

[DO2015CA]

Not when they received GREAT VERBAL FEEDBACK.

That's a red flag in my book.

To me if you have a lot of 3s that means great verbal feedback! No med student should be getting 4s if they use the scale my residency does. They said they had a few 2s. My med school was like 15 categories. If 12 were 3s and 3 were 2s, that would mean great verbal feedback is due. That means they are above expectations in 12/15 categories. You can’t expect everyone to excel in every category.

During preceptor based clerkships 3rd year, DO students tend to always get top possible scores. Then go to 4th year sub-Is and start getting 3s and a few 2s. Do you think this is due to the student regressing? No it has to do with the preceptors not actually training residents so they don’t know what the students should and should not know at that stage leading to false elevations in scores. When you come from a Sub-I you are getting a true standardized evaluation. Dumb administration see the student as doing poorly but in reality they are getting their first accurate evaluation based on true ability.

 

[Lawpy]

To me if you have a lot of 3s that means great verbal feedback! No med student should be getting 4s if they use the scale my residency does. They said they had a few 2s. My med school was like 15 categories. If 12 were 3s and 3 were 2s, that would mean great verbal feedback is due. That means they are above expectations in 12/15 categories. You can’t expect everyone to excel in every category.

During preceptor based clerkships 3rd year, DO students tend to always get top possible scores. Then go to 4th year sub-Is and start getting 3s and a few 2s. Do you think this is due to the student regressing? No it has to do with the preceptors not actually training residents so they don’t know what the students should and should not know at that stage leading to false elevations in scores. When you come from a Sub-I you are getting a true standardized evaluation. Dumb administration see the student as doing poorly but in reality they are getting their first accurate evaluation based on true ability.

Wait are you using the same scale to evaluate both students and interns? Because if no student is going to get a 4, why not change the scale to set 3 as a maximum score?

 

[DO2015CA]

Wait are you using the same scale to evaluate both students and interns? Because if no student is going to get a 4, why not change the scale to set 3 as a maximum score?

I don’t fill them out. We just submit our recommendations and attendings do them. I believe there are 2 different forms here. I was not clear in my first post. I was meaning to piggy back onto the program not being familiar with a visiting student’s school form. I know mine did have a “can perform individually” top score which is not likely for the vast majority of clinical tasks as a medical student. A poorly worded eval and an unfamiliar program can lead to lower marks even though they did perform great.

 

[acapnial]

Not when they received GREAT VERBAL FEEDBACK.

That's a red flag in my book.

Toward the end of second year of residency I got an eval with great written remarks ("Dr. Acapnial is a wonderful resident, no doubt he'll be great when he practices independently" kind of thing) and then got straight 2's, which was basically consistent with being worried if I got **** on my hands they wouldn't trust that I knew to wash them. Some attendings just get confused by the grading scales of individual medical schools, and sometime residencies train attendings not to go overboard with good numerical evaluations. Probably nothing more sinister than that going on here.

 

[Redpancreas]

Hi everyone, quick question. I recently received an evaluation from a program I completed a sub-I for. I assumed they liked me because I was offered an interview and the interview has already occurred and I received great verbal feedback.

However today, my clinical coordinator emailed me the evaluation from one of the faculty at this program and while a majority of the scoring was was 3 and 4 (out of 4), I was given 2's on random aspects of the evaluation, which has never happened to me before.

I have to email our clinical dean an explanation of the lower scoring points of my evaluation. I'm in the middle of interviews and I'm freaking out about this negative evaluation because I thought I performed well on the rotation. Is this grounds to get disciplined?

Its not clear to me what happened but based off what I have seen in medical education, this is a classic example of people never being on the same page. There will be no consequences from your home program so long as this was not a persistent pattern. I would simply accept whatever criticism was given to you as long as there isn't already a pattern because you're pretty much done and just resist the temptation to contact the outside program (wouldn't necessarily rank...rank based on where you want to go...it was one faculty, there is a huge variance in evaluations per faculty).