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Durham Uni to improve bedside manner

A new way of assessing professionalism among medical students could help to make better doctors, new research from Durham University suggests.

A score given to students, called the Conscientiousness Index, can detect behaviour which may need to be investigated at an early stage, allowing better support for trainee doctors.

The Conscientiousness Index (CI) is believed to be the first ever index to measure diligence among undergraduate medical students, and the Durham University researchers say it could contribute to improving doctors’ performance after qualification.

The CI measures the diligence of students in their day-to-day behaviour on the course by gaining and losing points. For example, students can receive points for submitting compulsory information such as CRB checks within deadline, but are deducted points for failing to attend compulsory teaching sessions without good reason.

The study found that those students who were extremely conscientious according to the index were also independently perceived by staff as being highly professional.

Lead author Professor John McLachlan from Durham University’s School of Medicine and Health said: “A doctor’s behaviour is as important as his or her knowledge. In fact, most complaints to the General Medical Council are about doctors’ behaviours, not their lack of knowledge.

“In medical training, it is vital that we train people to be rounded, knowledgeable and professional. However, measuring professionalism is problematic because it is difficult to define and often relies on qualitative judgements.

“Using the index, we found that the vast majority of students are highly conscientious making a very small percentage stand out when they lapse. This makes it easier for staff to identify those students and take early steps to help them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .