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Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA)

16.-17.09.2021, Zürich, Schweiz (virtuell)

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Relationship between trainee personality and EPA performance in final year clerkship

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  • presenting/speaker Amelie Maria Garbe - Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education, Berlin, Germany
  • Sebastian Oberst - Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education, Berlin, Germany
  • Torsten Rollinger - Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education, Berlin, Germany
  • Ylva Holzhausen - Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education, Berlin, Germany
  • Susan Selch - University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
  • Simon Mats Breil - University Münster, Münster, Germany
  • Harm Peters - Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education, Berlin, Germany

Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA). Zürich, Schweiz, 16.-17.09.2021. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2021. DocV26-01

doi: 10.3205/21gma098, urn:nbn:de:0183-21gma0985

Published: September 15, 2021

© 2021 Garbe et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objective: Non-cognitive characteristics, such as personality, are known to have an impact on learning success in medical training, in addition to cognitive characteristics of the trainee. The personality model of Costa & McCrae [1] entails five main factors (Big Five):

  • conscientiousness,
  • extraversion,
  • neuroticism,
  • openness, and
  • agreeableness.

This study explores the relationship of personality dimensions of medical students on their learning success in the final year clerkship operationalized as level of autonomy granted for carrying out Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs).

Methods: In 2019, an online survey was send out to medical trainees in the last rotation of the final year clerkship in Germany. Students indicated the level of autonomy (supervision) they carried out from a set of 12 Core EPAs for undergraduate training [2]. Five supervision levels ranged from not carried out to carried out autonomously with findings reviewed afterwards. The personality dimensions were measured with the Big Five Inventory-SOEP (BFI-S). Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were chosen to evaluate the relationship between personality dimensions and EPA performance, adjusted by age, gender and previous training in another discipline.

Results: The sample included 880 students. Personality dimensions showed small to moderate (r= 0.12 to r= -0.22) correlations between all single 12 Core EPAs. The correlations indicated that conscientiousness (r= 0.13; p<0.01), extraversion (r= 0.15; p<0.01) and neuroticism (r= -0.24; p<0.01) are significantly predicting the overall EPA performance. No effect had age, gender and previous training.

Discussion: Certain non-cognitive personality characteristics seem to influence the level of autonomy granted to medical trainees when carrying out EPAs in final year clerkship. The results complement prior research on what factor influences entrustment decisions in the clinical workplace.

Take home message: The Big Five inventory indicates that several non-cognitive main personality characteristics influence entrustment decisions in the clinical workplace.

Outline

References

1.
Costa PT, McCrae RR. The NEO personality inventory. Odessa, FL: Psychological assessment resources; 1985.
2.
Holzhausen Y, Maaz A, Renz A, Bosch, J, Peters H. Development of Entrustable Professional Activities for entry into residency at the Charité Berlin. GMS J Med Educ. 2019;36(1):Doc5. DOI: 10.3205/zma001213 External link