Adaptation, psychometric properties and implementation of the Mini-CEX in dental clerkship

Abstract
Background: Workplace-based assessment is a key component of dental students during their clerkship in order to demonstrate clinical proficiency. Purpose: This study aims to analyze the results obtained from adapting the Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX) to the clerkship of a dentistry program, and to examine its psychometric properties. Methods: First, a Delphi panel method was used to ensure content validity. Then, the Mini-CEX was piloted in the dental clerkship where each student was assessed by at least two supervisors and a peer student; the psychometric properties, acceptability, and observation-time were analyzed afterward. Results: The pilot study was conducted between July and November of 2019. One hundred forty Mini-CEX were carried out on 30 students, eighty-four by supervisors and fifty-six by peers. The adapted instrument was proved to be unidimensional, obtaining an acceptable internal consistency (α=0.74). There was a difference in observation-time as the type of assessor changed; the medians (Q1-Q3) were 10 minutes (5-15) for supervisors and 30 minutes (20-45) for peer students (p<0.001). This difference was also observed when analyzing the assessor’s satisfaction (p<0.001) since the supervisor scored a median of 6 (6-6.75), and peer students scored a median of 7 (6-7). No differences were found between the scores given by supervisors and peers. Conclusion: The adapted version of the Mini-CEX can objectively assess students' clinical performance of dental student based on values of validity and reliability, which are similar to those obtained in the original instrument.
Description
Tesis (Magíster en Educación Médica)--Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Keywords
Medical education, Workplace-based assessment, Educational assessment, Clinical clerkship, Dental education
Citation