Accuracy of Medical Student Electronic Logbook Problem List Entry

Background: The accuracy of medical student logbooks has not been extensively studied. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine accuracy of student entry of core problems and completeness of patient entry in an electronic logbook. Methods: Third-year internal medicine clerkship students entered patient encounters as required by the clerkship. Experts entered information from the same encounters. Results: A total of 1,440 patient entries generated by 37 consecutive students were compared to expert entries. Sensitivity (core problem underreporting) was low (60%, SD = 22%). Percent agreement (87%, SD = 7%), kappa (0.46, SD = 0.19), and specificity (core problem overreporting; 95%, SD = 5%) were good to excellent. Students both omitted (underreported 14%, SD = 12%) and overreported (23%, sd 17%) patients. Conclusions: Under ideal study circumstances, there was significant underreporting of core problems by students. Although the high specificity, meaning that students are not reporting problems the...