Faculty and patient evaluations of radiology residents' communication and interpersonal skills

Objective: To assess communication and interpersonal skills (CIS) of radiology residents through faculty and standardised patients (SP). Methods: In this day-long objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in January 2009, 42 radiology residents took part at six stations in Karachi, each with a standardised patient and a faculty evaluator. Each encounter lasted 15 minutes followed by independent assessments of the residents by both the evaluators. Results: Based on rating-scale evaluations, all cases had satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.6 to 0.9). The alpha values were comparatively diminutive against the checklist scores. Correlation among faculty was 0.6 (p<0.001) with the use of both the checklist and the rating scale. Among standardised patient, intra-class correlation was 0.6 (p<0.001) for checklists and 0.7 (p=0.001) for rating scales. Moderate to strong correlations (r=0.6 to 0.9) existed between checklist and rating scores by the same type of evaluator. Correlations among the faculty and standardised patient using the same assessment tool were unimpressive. Conclusion: Both checklists and rating scales can serve as satisfactory assessment tools for communication and interpersonal skills using objective structured and clinical examination with the assistance of faculty and standardised patients.