Clinical evaluation: physiotherapists' ranking of competencies

The competencies to be assessed as part of the process of clinical evaluation of students need to be determined. This paper describes a method establishing the emphasis or weights assigned to each area of competency. Clinicians and clinical educators were asked to rate a number of dummy student evaluation forms and the individual competencies on each form. Category weights were derived and the magnitude of these weights were used to rank the categories. The derived ranks were compared to the rater's overt ranking of the categories. The weightings are compared to those reported in other studies which examine the value placed on clinical competencies by clinicians.