Table 1.

Example of coding rubric

Preliminary code categories	Coding question	Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria example
Clinical Skills	Is treatment OR diagnosis OR providing care the overarching theme of the competency?	[action verb]+description about or use of medical tests/procedures, development of patient plans, physical examinations/palpations, use of collected information/data to inform diagnosis, and phrases such as “provide health OR palliative care.”	If the medical tests or procedures are NOT the focus and are being used FOR an application that would be categorized in a different core area	Demonstrate understanding of epidemiology of common diseases within a population and the approaches which are useful in reducing their incidence and prevalence *TAMU Medical School Competencies

The rubric was developed to help researchers efficiently and consistently categorize each competency. The inclusion criterion was a partially diagrammed sentence that focused the coder on the action verb of the competency with examples of common direct objects. Exclusion criteria were included to help the coders distinguish between differences in gaining skills and applying them. Examples were included for the exclusion criteria to further help the coders distinguish among competency categories.