The impact of goal setting and goal orientation on performance during a clerkship surgical skills training program

Background The purpose of this study was to integrate relevant goal-setting theory and to identify if trainees' goal orientations have an impact on the assigned goals-performance relationship. Methods Trainees attended 1 of the 3 goal-training activities (do your best, performance, or learning goals) for knot tying (KT) and camera navigation (CN) during the 3rd-year clerkship rotation. Questionnaires and pretests and/or post-tests were completed. Results One twenty-seven 3rd-year medical students (age: 25 ± 2.6; 54% women) participated in the training program. Pretraining to post-training performance changes were significant for all groups on both tasks (P <.01), but the increase was significantly greater (P <.01) for the learning goals group (do your best: KTΔ = 2.14, CNΔ = 1.69; performance: KTΔ = 2.49, CNΔ = 2.24; learning: KTΔ = 3.04 CNΔ = 2.76). Correlations between goal orientations and improvement were examined, revealing a unique role of goal orientation for performance improvement. Conclusions These data indicate that consideration of goal type and trainee goal orientation must be considered during curriculum development to maximize educational value.