Investigating Professional Development: Comparing Students Self-Assessment with Assessment of the Clinical Instructors

Investigating Professional Development: Comparing Students Self-Assessment with Assessment of the Clinical Instructors Johana Kontarovsky, SPT Mentor: Jennifer Hastings PT, PhD Background: Professional behavior and self-assessment are aspects that are paramount to being a successful medical professional. Purpose: This purpose of this study was to look at the development of professionalism in the cohort of 2020 at our institution. The concept was to investigate the students’ use of reflection as a foundation for personal and professional development. Methods: The Self Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS) was given to the SPTs September and December 2017 as well as May of 2020. The class of 2020 Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) questions addressing professionalism were evaluated for the first and second internships. Numerical scores from the CI and student were recorded and key words were identified in the SPTs and Clinical Instructors (CI) comments. Results: The SRIS showed a significant change in total scale score and the subscale of “need for self-reflection” between the start and the end of the first semester. No significant change between time two and time three. Students consistently rated themselves lower than the CI on the objective measures of professional behavior and professional development. The difference was statistically significant for the first internship only. Conclusion: SPTs did not demonstrate a continuum of progressing self-reflection or professional development. There is a possibility that these results were in part due to the stress experienced by the students during the pandemic