Global curricular innovations at Rehman Medical College, Peshawar: the case for Mini-CEX

Abstract

Background: Mini-CEX is a formative assessment tool that is implementable, feasible, and acceptable for undergraduate work place based assessment. It also impacts future practice outcomes for graduates who have undergone Mini-CEX assessment in undergraduate training. Objective: To evaluate the outcomes of undergraduate Mini-CEX training in graduates of Rehman Medical College (RMC) posted at two affiliated teaching hospitals of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Methodology: The cross sectional study was conducted at Rehman Medical College, Peshawar and its two affiliated teaching hospitals from January to February 2017 through universal sampling to include 96 house officers (48 RMC graduates having Mini-CEX experience, and 48 graduates of other medical colleges without Mini-CEX experience), and their 12 clinical consultants. Two questionnaire-based surveys (faculty and graduates), were conducted to evaluate clinical performance, utilizing Kirkpatrick’s model for evaluation. Data analysis was done by SPSS 22.0 for descriptive statistics. Results: The faculty survey for evaluating graduate performance yielded significant scores for attitude (p=0.02) and work ethics (p=0.002) of RMC graduates; 58.3% of the faculty regarded Mini-CEX as a valuable tool for improving clinical skills, attitude & perceptions during undergraduate clinical training. RMC graduates (p