Abstract:

Objective Based on the "Four-New" construction initiative of new engineering，new medicine，new agricultural science，and new humanities，this study aimed to develop and validate a competency scale for medical students to provide a tool for medical education quality assessment. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate 1 503 medical students（46.20% in clinical medicine majors，60.90% aged 21-<24 years）. The scale comprised three first-level dimensions：physical and mental qualities（6 second-level dimensions including political ideology and ethical behavior，19 items），professional competency（12 second-level dimensions such as professional responsibility and critical thinking，53 items），and practical innovation thinking（14 second-level dimensions including interdisciplinary collaboration and digital literacy，58 items）. Confirmatory factor analysis（CFA） and reliability/validity tests were employed to validate the scale. Results The scale demonstrated excellent reliability：Cronbach's alpha coefficients for primary dimensions all exceeded 0.990，while sub-dimension coefficients ranged from 0.951 to 0.992. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated good model fit（RMSEA=0.051-0.052，CFI=0.969-0.993）. Descriptive statistics showed that professional responsibility and ethical behavior had the highest scores in core competencies，with scores of （4.44±0.75） and （4.48±0.75）points，while interdisciplinary collaboration，experimental design，and big data application had lower scores，with scores of （3.84±0.92），（3.88±0.92），and （3.82±0.94）points，respectively，and the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a strong positive association between professional responsibility and ethical behavior（r=0.902， P<0.05），as well as a high degree of linkage between innovative thinking and interdisciplinary competence（r=0.873，P<0.05）. Conclusion This scale can be used to evaluate the multidimensional competence of medical students，and it is urgent to cultivate their innovative thinking and health big data application abilities through interdisciplinary curriculum integration and digital practice platform construction.

Key words: Four-New construction, Medical students, Competency, Reliability, Validity