A comparison of students' self-assessments with faculty evaluations of their communication skills

Abstract

Objective. To compare students' self-assessment of their communication skills with faculty members' formal evaluation of their skills in a therapeutics course. Methods. Over a 3-year period, faculty members evaluated second-year pharmacy students' communication skills as part of a requirement in a therapeutics course. Immediately following an individual oral assessment and again following a group oral assessment, students self-assessed their communication skills using the same rubric the faculty members had used. Students' self-assessments were then compared with faculty members' evaluation of students' communication skills. Results. Four hundred one (97.3%) students consented to participate in this study. Faculty evaluation scores of students for both the individual and group oral assessments were significantly higher than students' self-assessment scores. Students' self-assessment scores of their communication skills increased from the individual to the group oral assessment. Conclusion. Students' self-assessments of communication skills were consistently lower than faculty members' evaluations. Greater use of oral assessments throughout the pharmacy curriculum may help to improve students' confidence in and self-assessment of their communication skills.