Medical students’ development of self‐ and peer‐assessment skills: A longitudinal study

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the changes in medical students’ self‐and peer‐evaluative abilities as they progress through both the preclinical and clinical phases of their academic careers. Second‐year medical students were videotaped performing a randomly assigned physical examination. Based on behaviorally anchored checklists, students reviewed and rated their own performances as well as those of two of their peers; faculty also rated the students’ performances. These same students, as seniors, reviewed once again the videotapes of themselves and their peers and rated the performances. The students’ second‐year self‐ and peer‐evaluation ratings were significantly higher than those of the faculty ratings, whereas those same students’ ratings as seniors were not significantly different from the faculty ratings. Implications for integrating the use of self‐evaluation in undergraduate medical education programs are discussed.