Search

Competency-based assessment seeks to align measures of performance directly with desired learning outcomes based upon the needs of patients and the healthcare system. Recognizing that assessment methods profoundly influence student motivation and effort, it is critical to measure all desired aspects of performance throughout an individual’s medical training. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) defined domains of competency for residency; the subsequent Milestones Project seeks to describe each learner’s progress toward competence within each domain. Because the various clinical disciplines defined unique competencies and milestones within each domain, it is difficult for undergraduate medical education to adopt existing GME milestones language. This paper outlines the process undertaken by one medical school to design, implement and improve competency milestones for medical students. A team of assessment experts developed milestones for a set of focus competencies; these have now been monitored in medical students over two years. A unique digital dashboard enables individual, aggregate and longitudinal views of student progress by domain. Validation and continuous quality improvement cycles are based upon expert review, user feedback, and analysis of variation between students and between assessors. Experience to date indicates that milestone-based assessment has significant potential to guide the development of medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction: The use of group work assessment in medical education is becoming increasingly important to assess the competency of collaborator. However, debate continues on whether this does justice to individual development and assessment. This paper focuses on assessing the individual component within group work. Method: An integrative literature review was conducted and complemented with a survey among representatives of all medical schools in the Netherlands to investigate current practices. Results: The 14 studies included in our review show that an individual component is mainly assessed by peer assessment of individual contributions. Process and product of group work were seldom used separately as criteria. The individual grade is most often based on a group grade and an algorithm to incorporate peer grades. The survey provides an overview of best practices and recommendations for implementing group work assessment. Discussion: The main pitfall when using peer assessment for group work assessment lies in differentiating between the group work process and the resulting product of the group work. Hence, clear criteria are needed to avoid measuring only effort. Decisions about how to weigh assessment of the product and peer assessment of individual contribution should be carefully made and based on predetermined learning goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]