A new tool for the evaluation of residency training: Scale development and validation

Nazan Karaoğlu, Ummu Doğan, Aşır Genç, Nur Demirbaş, Fatih Yılmaz, Hatice Küçükceran, Fatma Gökşin Cihan, Ümran Münire Kahraman

Keywords: Department, institution, scale, residency, postgraduate education, training

Aim:

Medical specialty training provides the physician with sufficient knowledge, skills, attitudes, and certain qualifications in the chosen field of medicine. In medical training, communication, social opportunities, appropriate goals, programs, and learning environments are crucial. This paper aims to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to evaluate the compliance of this training with the standards.

Method:

In this methodologic research, a draft scale consisting of 49 items was created in line with the literature, to evaluate the training both in the department and institution.

Results:

The study involved 497 residents from family medicine residency programs across Turkey. The exploratory factor analysis revealed that the Scale for Department Evaluation of Medical Specialty Training had four factors whereas the Scale for Institution Evaluation of Medical Specialty Training had three factors. The factorial structures of both scales were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's alpha values were 0.941 and 0.928, respectively. Moreover, both scales have high total variance explained.

Conclusions:

The Department Evaluation Scale for Medical Specialty Training consisting of 25 items and four factors, and the Institution Evaluation Scale for Medical Specialty Training consisting of 20 items and three factors are valid and reliable tools to evaluate medical specialty training.

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