The educational value of situational judgement tests (SJTs) when used during undergraduate medical training: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Sahota, Gurvinder S.; Fisher, Victoria; Patel, Bakula; JuJ, Kiranjit; Taggar, Jaspal S.

Abstract

Introduction
Situational judgement tests (SJTs) are a recognised assessment method for admission into medical school, selection into postgraduate training programs, and postgraduate competency assessment. More recently, however, SJTs have been used during undergraduate medical training (UMT). This systematic review identifies, describes, and appraises the evidence for SJTs in UMT to determine educational associations and outcomes.

Methods
MEDLINE, EMBASE, ERIC, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and grey literature were searched for original research studies evaluating SJTs implemented within UMT to 1 November 2022. Studies reporting evaluation outcomes were included. Narrative data syntheses were undertaken. Risk of Bias was appraised using the Quality in Prognosis Studies tool.

Results
24 studies were included. National database-derived SJTs (n = 14) assessed against professionalism, postgraduate attainment, construct of medical degree, medical school admissions scores, personality attributes, and declaration of disability. In-house derived SJTs (n = 10) assessed against professionalism, clinical skills, and personality attributes. Most evidence evaluated and reported inverse SJT associations with professionalism and were moderate risk of bias.

Conclusion
SJTs may have utility for developing professional behaviours in medical students. However, further research testing SJT robustness, standard setting methodologies, and prospectively evaluating SJTs against objective outcome measures within the context of UMT is warranted.

Citation

Sahota, G. S., Fisher, V., Patel, B., JuJ, K., & Taggar, J. S. (2023). The educational value of situational judgement tests (SJTs) when used during undergraduate medical training: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Medical Teacher, 45(9), 997-1004. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2023.2168183

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 10, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 28, 2023
• Publication Date: Sep 2, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 10, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 29, 2024
• Journal: Medical Teacher
• Print ISSN: 0142-159X
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-187X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 45
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 997-1004
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2023.2168183
• Keywords: Education, General Medicine
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/16802322
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2168183?journalCode=imte20
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Medical Teacher on 28.1.23, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2168183