McMaster Patient Management Problems a Clinical Evaluation Tool

Abstract

Patient Management Problems is a paper and pencil self-assessment procedure administered by the American College of Surgeons. The participant is presented with a number of problems, each of which describes a patient with an illness or injury. For each problem, the participant must assume the role of surgeon on duty and make decisions as to what he would do next in order to formulate a diagnosis. Each decision is scored in a prescribed manner. Upon completion of the problem, the participant's score reflects his knowledge and clinical competence. Dr. C. B. Mueller (Health Sciences, McMaster University) has defined a requirement to investigate the feasibility of evaluating a surgeon's ability to discriminate between critical and noncritical information available from a patient. This investigation will employ an evaluation process similar to the one used in Patient Management Problems but will be computerized and will be scored in terms of completeness and efficiency. This computerized evaluation tool will be referred to as McMaster Patient Management Problems (MPMP). This project paper will describe the activities surrounding the development of McMaster Patient Management Problems.