Guideline for Psychiatry Clinical Evaluation Examiners
From T. K. Wolff, M.D.
August 29, 2011

The clinical skills that are being observed and evaluated are: 1) Doctor-patient
relationship, 2) interviewing, including the mental status exam, and 3) case presentation.
This does not necessary include diagnosis and treatment plan, although the resident may
choose to include these in the presentation.

The “Pass” grade should be given for the resident demonstrating competency in all
three skills.

Competency for this purpose is defined as interacting and performing in a manner to
establish a professional relationship, obtain the needed information in a fashion that is a
positive experience for the patient, and presenting the material in an organized, accurate,
and professional manner. The form helps guide on how to evaluate these.

Competency is to be contrasted with excellence (which is not required).

Competency is to be thought of as a level in which the examiner would feel
comfortable with the resident handling an evaluation and presentation of a
psychiatric patient in an empathic, professional, and accurate manner.
Practical notes:

The resident should be allowed to interview for a maximum of 45 minutes. An examiner
should give a 5 minute warning. In some cases, it may be appropriate to end the interview earlier,
but this should be evident to the examiners.

The timetable is: 45 minutes to interview; 15-20 minutes to present; 5-10 minutes for the
examiners to deliberate; 15-20 minutes for feedback to the resident

The interview can start with only one examiner there, but this examiner then has the ultimate say
whether the exam is PASS or NO CREDIT.

Each examiner should fill out an evaluation form.

The examiners need to agree with PASS or NO CREDIT and document this on each form (at the
conclusion). Then the two examiners need to review the evaluation with the resident.

The evaluations need to be placed in an envelope and given to Enrique Ayala-Gaytan (for the
ZLUH evaluations) and Latonya Spencer (for Parkland evaluations). If it is not feasible to give it
to them, please send in campus mail to Jane Bevel MC 9070. For the VA, please hand them to
Dr. Hendrickse. For the Child Psychiatry examiners, please mail them directly to Dr. Timothy
Wolff (mail code 9070).
Aston & Seay Document1 tkw