Mapping Direct Observations From Objective Structured Clinical Examinations to the Milestones Across Specialties

ABSTRACT Background Little is known about residents' performance on the milestones at the institutional level. Our institution formed a work group to explore this using an institutional-level curriculum and residents' evaluation of the milestones. Objective We assessed whether beginner-level milestones for interpersonal and communication skills (ICS) related to observable behaviors in ICS-focused objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) for postgraduate year (PGY) 1 residents across specialties. Methods The work group compared ICS subcompetencies across 12 programs to identify common beginner-level physician-patient communication milestones. The selected ICS milestone sets were compared for common language with the ICS-OSCE assessment tool—the Kalamazoo Essential Elements of Communication Checklist–Adapted (KEECC-A). To assess whether OSCE scores related to ICS milestone scores, all PGY-1 residents from programs that were part of Next Accreditation System Phase 1 were identified; their OSCE scor...