For anyone who has ever tried to make and keep New Year’s resolutions, you can appreciate that setting goals effectively is not easy. Somehow “be more organized” or “get healthier” rarely seem to translate into concrete successes. Part of the problem may be that the goals are often vague, lack definitive outcomes, and may be overwhelming in scope. Yet, professionally it is easy to make the same mistakes leading to the erroneous conclusion that setting regular goals is not really helpful.
Yet, psychologists have studied this and found that people who regularly write down goals for themselves attain greater success. Setting goals also requires self-assessment, which is a part of the professionalism and practice-based learning we emphasize. Since a rotation like medicine can be overwhelming enough in scope, we would like you to try to set some goals for yourself related to the six core competencies that we assess. You are required to provide some type of written goals or learning contract with your self-assessment.
The following guidelines may help you if you are not a regular “goal setter”.*
- Review the clerkship objectives and qualifications of the six core competencies and reflect on what level of competence you have achieved so far.
- Clearly identify your strengths and weaknesses (self-assessment).
- Decide which areas you need to focus on the most (prioritize).
- Create specific goals.
- Ask yourself how you will reach your goals and how you will know when you got there. If you can’t answer these questions, then your goals are probably not specific enough.
- Decide how you will get feedback on your goals.
- Decide when you should re-assess your goals.
* These suggestions were adapted from Scott Sears, a former Chief Resident at the University of Washington.
Criteria for selection:
- Examples that include self-assessment
- Examples that include reassessment and revision of goals
Supporting information: written goals that include descriptions of supporting activities is enough
Evaluation criteria:
- Goals submitted, but no reflection or too
general to be practical for the clerkship
- Practical goals with some reflection
- Goals clearly demonstrate student has
performed self-assessment and thoughtfully links goals to improving
competence
