Heather Lochnan, MD FRCPC (Univeristy of Ottawa)
Synopsis
Recognition of CanMEDS roles through completion of post rounds evaluations should improve understanding of the non medical expert roles. Analysis of role selections confirms participants can recognize, most CanMEDs roles appropriately, but less so the roles of Manager, Collaborator and Communicator.
Purpose
Evaluations of the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds at an Academic Medical Centre were reviewed to determine whether consistency in selection of applicable CanMEDS roles by attendees can be used to demonstrate an understanding of their definition.
Methods
Over 3600 evaluations were analyzed to identify pattern consistency among participants and concordance with the rounds content and objectives with regard to emphasis on each CanMEDs role. Quantitative scanning identified selection patterns as well as temporal trends that may indicate increased confidence in recognition of roles more recently emphasized such as professional.
Results
The Medical Expert is consistently chosen by the majority o f evaluators in all rounds including for those least likely to address this role. However trending shows Professional and Scholar are the second and third most common choices in all categories of rounds and trend appropriately in rounds featuring professionalism and research. The Manager role was the least often chosen, followed by Collaborator and Communicator. Most evaluators checked off several roles and only rarely all or none were chosen, suggesting some time was taken to consider the appropriateness of their responses.
Conclusion
Trending demonstrates moderate concordance of selected roles the rounds topic though less use of Communicator, Collaborator and Manager roles may suggest these roles are the least understood. Passive exposure to the list of CanMEDS roles and a somewhat forced reflection exercise may have improved understanding of some CanMEDs roles. Reluctance to select roles such as manager suggests the need for additional clarification for learners.
