Results of the First Canadian Psychiatric Knowledge Self-Assessment for Residents

Abstract

Two 150 multiple choice question examinations in Psychiatry were taken on a voluntary basis by 150 Canadian residents. The goals of these examinations were to promote skills and interest in self-education, provide detailed feedback to the participants, and to study various parameters which might be related to performance. The residents’ self-assessments prior to the examinations, their year of residency training and age were significant predictors of performance. Being male and having enough time to study were also related to high scores. The methods of instruction as well as the studying variables were not related significantly to performance. These findings highlight the importance of self-assessments in the process of evaluation and of listening to residents’ self-evaluations and requests for time to study. Increasing the number of self-assessment exercises and clarifying the knowledge requirements for the certification examination are recommended.