The feasibility and acceptability of implementing formal evaluation sessions and using descriptive vocabulary to assess student performance on a clinical clerkship.

Background: A systematized approach to descriptive evaluation of clinical performance using a vocabulary of global descriptors in the setting of formal evaluation and feedback sessions has been shown to be reliable and valid. The feasibility of this method beyond the institution at which it was developed has not been studied. Purpose: To determine the feasibility and acceptability of implementing formal evaluation and feedback sessions, using a vocabulary of global descriptors, in a third-year core clinical clerkship. Methods: In 1997, the University of Utah internal medicine clerkship introduced an evaluation method in which student performance was discussed at formal sessions, using a taxonomy of global terms describing progressive development from "reporter" to "interpreter" to "manager/educator" (R-I-M-E). The sessions were face-to-face meetings between the clinical teachers and a clerkship director, at three-week intervals through the twelve-week clerkship at the inpatient teaching sites. Following t...