O-SLOE: The Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) for Off-Service or Other (Non-Emergency Medicine) Rotation

The O-SLOE is intended to be an evaluative tool, first and foremost. This differs from traditional letters of recommendation. It should provide a global perspective on an applicant’s candidacy for training by providing meaningful comparisons to other medical students. This peer comparison may be unusual or uncomfortable for you, but it is standard for this type of evaluation in our specialty. Please keep comments succinct and relevant, and make every effort to avoid 'grade inflation' in your comparisons so as not to detract from the effectiveness of your SLOE. Letters written that check all the top boxes are often times viewed skeptically by programs.

Before you fill out the SLOE you will need to find the grade breakdown from your rotation to enter onto the SLOE form.

The SLOE was developed to be:

• Standardized
• Concise
• Discerning/Discriminating

Do's:

1. Use the O-SLOE form
2. Complete the O-SLOE in its entirety and then download and save the completed PDF after clicking submit.
3. If you do not know the grade breakdown for students from your rotation, it is ok to give a guestimated grade breakdown.
4. In Section A you will be asked to designate if your student is entrustable within the domain of clinical skills. The categories here are designated by the AAMC and are a way in which we can evaluate our students in a competency based manner.
5. In Part B you will be asked to rank the student on their interpersonal skills and professionalism. There is a rating scale ranging from “Exceptional EM candidate” to “Minimally acceptable for an EM Candidate”. We encourage you to use the entirety of this scale and anticipate a bell-shaped curve will be generated nationally from people writing OSLOE letters.
6. In Part C the SLOE is asking you to rank the student in comparison to their peers and how much guidance you anticipate they will need during residency training. While we recognize that all applicants will require guidance during residency, a candidate that will require less guidance will also be noted to be a self starter. One that requires more guidance than others, may have been noted to have deficiencies in certain clinical domains or has required additional support with completing expected tasks. We encourage you to use the entire scale. The majority of students probably need standard guidance through residency.
7. In addition to the applicant’s non-cognitive qualities, the written comments should highlight strengths and explain any areas of focus for the student. Keep in mind that training programs vary in the attributes they value in a successful candidate and the areas of development where they feel confident providing focused/additional guidance.
8. For institution information,- please let us know a little bit about your institution(s) and rotation.

Don’ts:

1. Don’t check all the top boxes—unless this really is the BEST medical student you have EVER WORKED WITH!