The application of formal axiology to medical education through the hartman value profile: a prospective cohort study

Introduction: Many criteria such as USMLE scores, applicantresumes, Dean’s letters, recommendation letters, personaldiscussions, interview scores and medical school transcripts canbe used to predict the success of a medical trainee in the USA. Thisinformation is either relatively objective, or subjective. It would bevaluable if we had some objective measures that might predict asuccessful resident performance early in the process or on the otherside to allow remediation or redirection. Actual performance of aresident or fellow is based upon his or her ability to execute soundjudgments within the complex healthcare setting. The HartmanValue Profile (HVP) evaluates the structure and the dynamics ofan individual value system. This study has the primary goal ofdetermining whether specific indices on the HVP correlate withthe management’s evaluation of the residents established by theDepartment of Anesthesiology at Yale University.Methods: The protocol developed uses univariate correlationsbetween residents’ HVP subscales and their performance scores,which will be determined with the Pearson correlation coefficientor Spearman rank coefficient as appropriate. Demographic andclinical variables will be reported descriptively. A two-sided alphavalue of 0.05 will be used for identifying statistically significantfindings.Conclusion: The potential benefits are that obtaining specificindices on the HVP would enable management to better engageand work with residents. Experience gained from incorporatingthe HVP into the residency selection process suggests that itmay add objectivity in predicting resident performance duringtraining. Given the potential impact, it could be implemented asan adjuvant tool to the traditional evaluation process.