Getting mostly satisfactory and few outstanding in my evaluation

[Bookmark311]

I have been getting mostly satisfactory and few outstanding in my clinical encounter evaluations and I was wondering how can I improve myself to get more outstanding evaluations!!

[freewheeler]

Dude, who cares?? It's all subjective garble anyways and essentially has no meaning.

If you're really concerned, just be upfront with your preceptor the first day you work with them and say that you're interested in receiving an excellent evaluation from them and you're wondering what you have to do in order to attain that. Or just ask to chat for a second about expectations for the rotation and ask them what their expectations for someone at your level of training are and how you can exceed those, etc. Those are just a few examples of ways you can gauge your preceptor and it's really about having clear expectations set from the start.

Beyond that, it depends on the preceptor as some honestly just hit the satisfactory buttons for everyone and don't write any comments, while others take a much more individualized approach to completing these evaluations. Also, if you and your preceptor happen to mesh well personality wise then that can also be a contributing factor. There are so many contributing factors that while you can do everything you can to shift things in your favour, it ultimately is very much a crapshoot.

Do whatever you want, but no outcome is guaranteed and ultimately you have to be accountable to yourself.

Good luck.

[GH0ST]

Asking about expectations and setting goals ahead of time with the preceptor can help immensely. 

I also had these issues but most importantly you just need to focus on learning as much as you can and doing right by the people around you. Evaluations mean nothing to the patients you will see one day. 

- G 

[Lactic Folly]

It's true that medical students are already a select bunch, so the majority will be in the "at expectation" category which is fine. Getting a few outstanding evals is great. 

It's also true that evaluations are often subjective, though I think a significant part of it is that preceptors are often pulled in many directions and therefore making assessments based on limited interactions, so an initial impression may 'stick,' or the one half-day they work with you (plus brief comments from others) may not be completely reflective of your overall performance. 

That being said, I think it's commendable to aim for improved performance. If in the same class, most students are achieving mostly at expectation, but a few manage to achieve above expectation in more rotations, they are likely performing differently. It may not be completely straightforward to do so, as I suspect that outstanding students simply perform higher than expected for their level of training (i.e. work is more like that of a resident, requires fewer corrections or additions from the supervisor).  

That being said, I think that if a student took the initiative to seek feedback early on (before the standard midterm eval) with the intention to achieve a higher level of performance (not just seeking a letter of reference), it wouldn't be a common thing to do, and this demonstrated motivation would set them above their peers. It might prompt the preceptor to spend extra time and attention interacting with them to provide the requested feedback, and assuming this feedback is acted upon, it may in turn improve the evaluation. 

[GrouchoMarx]

From my experience its mostly about personality matching and commonalities outside of medicine (class, attractiveness, religion, musical tastes). You can do nothing about these unless you are willing to lie.

[Lactic Folly]

Huh, I can't remember many rotations as a medical student (outside of perhaps a long OR or slow clinic) where staff really had the space or interest to converse with medical students on outside topics such as music, let alone personal matters such as religion. Perhaps it could be a personality matching thing as you said, but I think the personal chit-chat is more likely to occur with residents with whom there is a years-long working relationship, as opposed to medical students who are only there for a few weeks at most.

[JohnGrisham]

7 hours ago, Bookmark311 said:

I have been getting mostly satisfactory and few outstanding in my clinical encounter evaluations and I was wondering how can I improve myself to get more outstanding evaluations!!

Good that means you're like 80% of other med students.

[1D7]

Even if you knew everything possible at the level of a M3/M4, half your evals would still be satisfactory evaluations. It comes down to soft skills since the evals are mostly subjective. Aside from having a reasonable amount of medical knowledge, it comes down to knowing where to work, who to work with, how to speak, the unsaid expectations, how to organize yourself, how to present yourself, and a bit of luck.

While the subjective evals in and of themselves are mostly pointless, some can help obtain a strong LOR which is useful down the road.

[Lactic Folly]

New study published in Academic Medicine:

https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Abstract/publishahead/Which_Student_Characteristics_Are_Most_Important.97556.aspx

"Professionalism components, clinical reasoning, and curiosity were among the most important characteristics distinguishing high-performing clerkship students."