Contextual Variable Responses are used to describe the context in which a learner completes something. Examples of contextual variables include diagnosis, clinical presentation, clinical setting, case complexity, patient demographics, etc. For each variable, programs must define a list of response options. For example, under clinical presentation, a program might include cough, dyspnea, hemoptysis, etc.
Elentra will autosetup a specific list of contextual variables in the Manage Curriculum interface. Institutions can also add contextual variables (e.g., assessor's role) to this list before uploading contextual variable responses (e.g., nurse, physician, senior resident) via each program's CBME tab.
Do not delete any contextual variables from the existing list within Manage Curriculum or the CBME auto-setup feature will prompt you to re-add them the next time you use CBME. If you wish to add to the contextual variables list you may do so manually through Manage Curriculum and then import your responses through the CBME tab. By default Elentra is set up to provide access to the same Contextual Variables for all programs. You don't necessarily have to provide responses for all CVs in all programs but by default each program will see the same list of CVs.
Elentra's auto-setup feature will pre-populate a specific set of contextual variables. Users will be able to upload response options for that list through the CBME tab. However, institutions may wish to add additional contextual variables to make available to their programs. You can do this by following two steps.
1) Through Admin>Manage Curriculum>Curriculum Tags>Contextual Variables you can add new contextual variable tags (e.g. observer role, consult type, domain) that will become visible and useable to all programs within the organization. When you add these new tags to the tag set, you'll be required to provide a code and title. It is recommended that you make the code and title the same, but separate the words in the code with underscores. Example: Title: Observer Role Code: observer_role Please note that there is by default a 24 character limit for curriculum tag codes and a 240 character limit for curriculum tag titles. If you enter more characters than the limit, the system will automatically cut off your entry at the maximum characters. 2) After you have added Contextual Variables to the existing tag set, you will be able to add the new response codes (and responses) to the contextual variable response template and successfully import them.
Once you have built out the list of all contextual variables you want included in the system you can import specific contextual variable responses for each program.
Navigate to Admin>Manage course and select a course. Click CBME and Import CBME Data to access and download the contextual variable response template. Complete the following columns:
Response Code: This column is pre-populated by fields including assessor’s role, basis of assessment, case complexity, case type, etc. You can add to this list if you have built additional contextual variables through Manage Curriculum (see above). Make sure to use the exact response code from the newly created contextual variable tag in the response_code column.
Response: In this column, you can add the response variables required (e.g. Case complexity response variables: low, medium, high). To add more than one response variable per response code, simply insert another line and fill in both the response code and response columns.
If there are items in the response code column that you don’t use, you must delete them before you upload the file.
Description (optional): This field is not seen by users at this point and simply serves as metadata.
After saving your file as a .csv, scroll to step 4 on the Import CBME screen and either search for or drag and drop the file into place. You'll see a green checkmark when your file is successfully uploaded.
