Second year students were trained and assessed history taking communication skills. Peers rated the students¡¯ personality and academic and social reputation.
Peer-assessment ratings were significantly correlated with teacher-ratings in a summative assessment of medical communication. Peers did not provide negative ratings on final scales but did provide negative ratings on subcategories. Peer- and teacher-assessments were both related to the students¡¯ personality and academic reputation.
Peer-assessment cannot replace teacher-assessment if the assessment should result in high-stake decisions about students. Our data do not confirm the hypothesis that peers are overly biased by personality and reputation characteristics in peer-assessment of performance.
Early introduction of peer-assessment in medical education would facilitate early acceptance of this mode of evaluation and would promote early on the habit of critical evaluation of professional clinical performance and acceptance of being evaluated critically by peers.