A qualitative study of self-evaluation of junior doctor performance: is perceived ‘safeness’ a more useful metric than confidence and competence?

摘要

Objectives: The terms confidence and competenceudhave been poorly defined and are often misused byudjunior doctors. Given safe practice relies on healthcareudprofessionals being aware of their own skill setsudimproving self-assessment of confidence andudcompetence is important. The aim of this work was toudexplore junior doctors’ understanding of how theyudperceive their own performance in respect of managingudfeverish children in an emergency department.udSetting: A children’s emergency department in audtertiary hospital in the East Midlands, UK.udParticipants: 22 Junior doctors volunteered toudundertake focus groups via a meta-planningudmethodology over 2 years (14 participants in the firstudyear and 8 in the second).udResults: Although doctors were aware of theuddifference between confidence and competence theyudwere not able to distinguish between them in practicaludterms. The feeling of being ‘safe’ emerged as a term inudwhich there was a shared understanding compared toudreported confidence and competence.udConclusions: A perception of ‘safeness’ is a conceptudthat may aid self-evaluation and we present a matrixudthat might be used by supervisors and educators toudexamine this and its relationship with confidence andudcompetence.