Dr. Rarey opened the meeting with the committee agreeing on meeting dates/times for future meetings. It was decided that we will meet December 10 and then the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month through March in M112 at 12 noon.
Dr. Kellner began with section VI. Student Performances of the template for the clerkships. He inquired from the committee how many years back we wanted to go. All agreed bar graphs were much better that actual figures. It was then decided to use the last 3 years with a graphical representation of each component. All agreed.
The committee advanced to section VII. Student Evaluation. Dr. Kellner queried the committee on how to standardize the clerkship reporting of grades. Specifically, students minuses are reported but the minuses are dropped on the transcript. We should try to use the same criterion across all clerkships. Dr. Romrell then suggested that we eliminate the minuses, and state something like "The following grade scale must be used when reporting grades" so that everyone uniformly follows the same procedures and include the numerical standard for establishing grades.
Dr. Kellner asks if this is the format we want to propose. Do we want to show how grades are calculated? Drs. Romrell and Duerson indicated that we need to show how grades were calculated. Dr. Duerson explains that on the template it should indicate how they are evaluating the "fund of knowledge."
Dr. Kellner suggested that the template indicate "how material is being taught," and "how material is being evaluated." These inputs could be listed under sections 4 and 5, and relate back to the objectives. He then mentioned that one could list objectives with a grid. Dr. Duerson agreed that the grid will be more helpful than to write it, and maybe there should be a part where they would volunteer to indicate the areas they are having difficulty.
The committee then began discussion on section VII. Evaluation of the Clerkship. One idea was that the Curriculum Committee could probably come up with some universal questions for the index year and the preceding 3 years. Dr. Rarey asked if there were other data to review or other ways to evaluate than with the current three components: students' contributions, students' debriefings, and directors' evaluations. Dr. Duerson asked a similar question and stated we should have other measures with which to evaluate. Some type of evaluation should occur "at the time" instead of after they leave medical school.
Ben Stevens suggested a concept to bring in an external body to evaluate the different clerkships every so often. This was thought to be a very expensive venture by the committee.
The meeting adjourned promptly at 1:00 p.m. The next meeting will be December 10, 12 noon in M112.