BACKGROUND: Professionalism in medical school predicts future behaviors. The authors assessed prevalence of references to professionalism behaviors in the clerkship commentary portion of Medical School Performance Evaluations (MSPEs). METHOD: Content analyses of 293 MSPEs submitted for 2005 graduates. RESULTS: Overall, 70% of MSPEs specifically mentioned professionalism; 96% included information about at least 1 of 16 professional behaviors. Internal Medicine referenced significantly more behaviors than other clerkships. Commentary about behaviors such as interactions (94%) and motivation (91%) was common; behaviors such as truthfulness (8%) and confidentiality (6%) were rarely mentioned. Fewer than 1% of comments could be considered negative. CONCLUSIONS: Most professionalism comments in MSPEs are generic and somewhat bland, tending to be about students' collegial interactions and hard work. More detail and breadth may be facilitated by wider use of behavior-centered evaluation in clerkships.
BACKGROUND: Professionalism in medical school predicts future behaviors. The authors assessed prevalence of references to professionalism behaviors in the clerkship commentary portion of Medical School Performance Evaluations (MSPEs). METHOD: Content analyses of 293 MSPEs submitted for 2005 graduates. RESULTS: Overall, 70% of MSPEs specifically mentioned professionalism; 96% included information about at least 1 of 16 professional behaviors. Internal Medicine referenced significantly more behaviors than other clerkships. Commentary about behaviors such as interactions (94%) and motivation (91%) was common; behaviors such as truthfulness (8%) and confidentiality (6%) were rarely mentioned. Fewer than 1% of comments could be considered negative. CONCLUSIONS: Most professionalism comments in MSPEs are generic and somewhat bland, tending to be about students' collegial interactions and hard work. More detail and breadth may be facilitated by wider use of behavior-centered evaluation in clerkships.