Experiences of medical students and faculty regarding the use of long case as a formative assessment method at a tertiary care teaching hospital in a low resource setting: a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: The long case is used to assess medical students' proficiency in performing clinical tasks. As a formative assessment, the purpose is to offer feedback on performance, aiming to enhance and expedite clinical learning. The long case stands out as one of the primary formative assessment methods for clinical clerkship in low-resource settings but has received little attention in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences of medical students and faculty regarding the use of the Long Case Study as a formative assessment method at a tertiary care teaching hospital in a low-resource setting. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative study design was used. The study was conducted at Makerere University, a low-resource setting. The study participants were third- and fifth-year medical students as well as lecturers. Purposive sampling was utilized to recruit participants. Data collection comprised six Focus Group Discussions with students and five Key Informant Interviews with lecturers. The qualitative data were analyzed by inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three themes emerged from the study: ward placement, case presentation, and case assessment and feedback. The findings revealed that students conduct their long cases at patients' bedside within specific wards/units assigned for the entire clerkship. Effective supervision, feedback, and marks were highlighted as crucial practices that positively impact the learning process. However, challenges such as insufficient orientation to the long case, the super-specialization of the hospital wards, pressure to hunt for marks, and inadequate feedback practices were identified. CONCLUSION: The long case offers students exposure to real patients in a clinical setting. However, in tertiary care teaching hospitals, it's crucial to ensure proper design and implementation of this practice to enable students' exposure to a variety of cases. Adequate and effective supervision and feedback create valuable opportunities for each learner to present cases and receive corrections.

Making assessment a team sport: a qualitative study of facilitated group feedback in internal medicine residency.

Purpose: Competency-based medical education relies on feedback from workplace-based assessment (WBA) to direct learning. Unfortunately, WBAs often lack rich narrative feedback and show bias towards Medical Expert aspects of care. Building on research examining interactive assessment approaches, the Queen's University Internal Medicine residency program introduced a facilitated, team-based assessment initiative ("Feedback Fridays") in July 2017, aimed at improving holistic assessment of resident performance on the inpatient medicine teaching units. In this study, we aim to explore how Feedback Fridays contributed to formative assessment of Internal Medicine residents within our current model of competency-based training. Method: A total of 53 residents participated in facilitated, biweekly group assessment sessions during the 2017 and 2018 academic year. Each session was a 30-minute facilitated assessment discussion done with one inpatient team, which included medical students, residents, and their supervising attending. Feedback from the discussion was collected, summarized, and documented in narrative form in electronic WBA forms by the program's assessment officer for the residents. For research purposes, verbatim transcripts of feedback sessions were analyzed thematically. Results: The researchers identified four major themes for feedback: communication, intra- and inter-personal awareness, leadership and teamwork, and learning opportunities. Although feedback related to a broad range of activities, it showed strong emphasis on competencies within the intrinsic CanMEDS roles. Additionally, a clear formative focus in the feedback was another important finding. Conclusions: The introduction of facilitated team-based assessment in the Queen's Internal Medicine program filled an important gap in WBA by providing learners with detailed feedback across all CanMEDS roles and by providing constructive recommendations for identified areas for improvement.

Objectif: La formation médicale fondée sur les compétences s'appuie sur la rétroaction faite lors de l'évaluation des apprentissages par observation directe dans le milieu de travail. Malheureusement, les évaluations dans le milieu de travail omettent souvent de fournir une rétroaction narrative exhaustive et privilégient les aspects des soins relevant de l'expertise médicale. En se basant sur la recherche ayant étudié les approches d'évaluation interactive, le programme de résidence en médecine interne de l'Université Queen's a introduit en juillet 2017 une initiative d'évaluation facilitée et en équipe (« Les vendredis rétroaction ¼), visant à améliorer l'évaluation holistique du rendement des résidents dans les unités d'enseignement clinique en médecine interne. Dans cette étude, nous visons à explorer comment ces « vendredis rétroaction ¼ ont contribué à l'évaluation formative des résidents en médecine interne dans le cadre de notre modèle actuel de formation axée sur les compétences. Méthode: Au total, 53 résidents ont participé à des séances d'évaluation de groupe facilitées et bi-hebdomadaires au cours de l'année universitaire 2017-2018. Chaque séance consistait en une discussion d'évaluation facilitée de 30 minutes menée avec une équipe de l'unité de soins, qui comprenait des étudiants en médecine, des résidents et le médecin superviseur. Les commentaires issus de la discussion ont été recueillis, résumés et documentés sous forme narrative dans des formulaires électroniques d'observation directe dans le milieu de travail par le responsable de l'évaluation du programme de résidence. À des fins de recherche, les transcriptions verbatim des séances de rétroaction ont été analysées de façon thématique. Résultats: Les chercheurs ont identifié quatre thèmes principaux pour les commentaires : la communication, la conscience intra- et interpersonnelle, le leadership et le travail d'équipe, et les occasions d'apprentissage. Bien que la rétroaction concerne un large éventail d'activités, elle met fortement l'accent sur les compétences liées aux rôles intrinsèques de CanMEDS. De plus, le fait que la rétroaction avait un rôle clairement formatif est une autre constatation importante. Conclusions: L'introduction de l'évaluation en équipe facilitée dans le programme de médecine interne à Queen's a comblé une lacune importante dans l'apprentissage par observation directe dans le milieu de travail en fournissant aux apprenants une rétroaction détaillée sur tous les rôles CanMEDS et en formulant des recommandations constructives sur les domaines à améliorer.

Surgeons vs ChatGPT: Assessment and Feedback Performance Based on Real Surgical Scenarios.

INTRODUCTION: Artificial intelligence tools are being progressively integrated into medicine and surgical education. Large language models, such as ChatGPT, could provide relevant feedback aimed at improving surgical skills. The purpose of this study is to assess ChatGPT´s ability to provide feedback based on surgical scenarios. METHODS: Surgical situations were transformed into texts using a neutral narrative. Texts were evaluated by ChatGPT 4.0 and 3 surgeons (A, B, C) after a brief instruction was delivered: identify errors and provide feedback accordingly. Surgical residents were provided with each of the situations and feedback obtained during the first stage, as written by each surgeon and ChatGPT, and were asked to assess the utility of feedback (FCUR) and its quality (FQ). As control measurement, an Education-Expert (EE) and a Clinical-Expert (CE) were asked to assess FCUR and FQ. RESULTS: Regarding residents' evaluations, 96.43% of times, outputs provided by ChatGPT were considered useful, comparable to what surgeons' B and C obtained. Assessing FQ, ChatGPT and all surgeons received similar scores. Regarding EE's assessment, ChatGPT obtained a significantly higher FQ score when compared to surgeons A and B (p = 0.019; p = 0.033) with a median score of 8 vs. 7 and 7.5, respectively; and no difference respect surgeon C (score of 8; p = 0.2). Regarding CE´s assessment, surgeon B obtained the highest FQ score while ChatGPT received scores comparable to that of surgeons A and C. When participants were asked to identify the source of the feedback, residents, CE, and EE perceived ChatGPT's outputs as human-provided in 33.9%, 28.5%, and 14.3% of cases, respectively. CONCLUSION: When given brief written surgical situations, ChatGPT was able to identify errors with a detection rate comparable to that of experienced surgeons and to generate feedback that was considered useful for skill improvement in a surgical context performing as well as surgical instructors across assessments made by general surgery residents, an experienced surgeon, and a nonsurgeon feedback expert.

Unintended consequences of technology in competency-based education: a qualitative study of lessons learned in an OtoHNS program.

BACKGROUND: Formative feedback and entrustment ratings on assessments of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are intended to support learner self-regulation and inform entrustment decisions in competency-based medical education. Technology platforms have been developed to facilitate these goals, but little is known about their effects on these new assessment practices. This study investigates how users interacted with an e-portfolio in an OtoHNS surgery program transitioning to a Canadian approach to competency-based assessment, Competence by Design. METHODS: We employed a sociomaterial perspective on technology and grounded theory methods of iterative data collection and analysis to study this OtoHNS program's use of an e-portfolio for assessment purposes. All residents (n = 14) and competency committee members (n = 7) participated in the study; data included feedback in resident portfolios, observation of use of the e-portfolio in a competency committee meeting, and a focus group with residents to explore how they used the e-portfolio and visualize interfaces that would better meet their needs. RESULTS: Use of the e-portfolio to document, access, and interpret assessment data was problematic for both residents and faculty, but the residents faced more challenges. While faculty were slowed in making entrustment decisions, formative assessments were not actionable for residents. Workarounds to these barriers resulted in a "numbers game" residents played to acquire EPAs. Themes prioritized needs for searchable, contextual, visual, and mobile aspects of technology design to support use of assessment data for resident learning. CONCLUSION: Best practices of technology design begin by understanding user needs. Insights from this study support recommendations for improved technology design centred on learner needs to provide OtoHNS residents a more formative experience of competency-based training.

Student and Teacher Perspectives on Equity in Clinical Feedback: A Qualitative Study Using a Critical Race Theory Lens.

PURPOSE: The authors aimed to gain a better understanding of students' and teachers' perspectives about whether clinical clerkship feedback is provided equitably irrespective of a student's race/ethnicity. METHOD: A secondary analysis of existing interview data was conducted, focusing on racial/ethnic disparities in clinical grading. Data had been acquired from 29 students and 30 teachers at 3 U.S. medical schools. The authors performed secondary coding on all 59 transcripts, writing memos focused on statements related to aspects of feedback equity and developing a template for coding students' and teachers' observations and descriptions specific to clinical feedback. Using the template, memos were coded, and thematic categories emerged describing perspectives on clinical feedback. RESULTS: Forty-eight (22 teachers and 26 students) participants' transcripts provided narratives about feedback. Both student and teacher narratives described how students who are racially/ethnically underrepresented in medicine may receive less helpful formative clinical feedback needed for professional development. Thematic analysis of narratives yielded 3 themes related to feedback inequities: 1) teachers' racial/ethnic biases influence the feedback they provide students, 2) teachers have limited skill sets to provide equitable feedback, and 3) racial/ethnic inequities in the clinical learning environment shape clinical and feedback experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Narratives indicated that both students and teachers perceived racial/ethnic inequities in clinical feedback. Teacher- and learning environment-related factors influenced these racial/ethnic inequities. These results can inform medical education's efforts to mitigate biases in the learning environment and provide equitable feedback to ensure every student has what they need to develop into the competent physician they aspire to be.

Surgical resident experience with common bile duct exploration and assessment of performance and autonomy with formative feedback.

BACKGROUND: Common bile duct exploration (CBDE) is safe and effective for managing choledocholithiasis, but most US general surgeons have limited experience with CBDE and are uncomfortable performing this procedure in practice. Surgical trainee exposure to CBDE is limited, and their learning curve for achieving autonomous, practice-ready performance has not been previously described. This study tests the hypothesis that receipt of one or more prior CBDE operative performance assessments, combined with formative feedback, is associated with greater resident operative performance and autonomy. METHODS: Resident and attending assessments of resident operative performance and autonomy were obtained for 189 laparoscopic or open CBDEs performed at 28 institutions. Performance and autonomy were graded along validated ordinal scales. Cases in which the resident had one or more prior CBDE case evaluations (n = 48) were compared with cases in which the resident had no prior evaluations (n = 141). RESULTS: Compared with cases in which the resident had no prior CBDE case evaluations, cases with a prior evaluation had greater proportions of practice-ready or exceptional performance ratings according to both residents (27% vs. 11%, p = .009) and attendings (58% vs. 19%, p < .001) and had greater proportions of passive help or supervision only autonomy ratings according to both residents (17% vs. 4%, p = .009) and attendings (69% vs. 32%, p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Residents with at least one prior CBDE evaluation and formative feedback demonstrated better operative performance and received greater autonomy than residents without prior evaluations, underscoring the propensity of feedback to help residents achieve autonomous, practice-ready performance for rare operations.

[Feedback in medical education - separate coaching for improvement from summative assessment]. / Feedback in de medische opleiding.

A supervisor's feedback can change a medical learner's behaviour consistently if the learner views the supervisor as a credible role model. A learner's trust in the supervisor is a prerequisite for feedback to contribute to effective learning. In current educational practice, coaching for improvement and summative assessment are frequently mixed, which leads medical learners to experience workplace based assessments as tests and makes them unresponsive to formative feedback. Carefully separating coaching for improvement from summative assessment is required to allow the learner to accept and apply the feedback given by the supervisor. Supervisors should focus their attention to providing formative feedback, not to documenting it. The R2C2 model (rapport - receptivity - content - coaching) is a useful tool to effectively provide constructive formative feedback.

Engaging clinical examiners with structured feedback to enhance assessment practices.

INTRODUCTION: Examiners' professional judgements of student performance are pivotal to making high-stakes decisions to ensure graduating medical students are competent to practise. Clinicians play a key role in assessment in medical education. They are qualified in their clinical area but may require support to further develop their understanding of assessment practices. However, there are limited studies on providing examiners with structured feedback on their assessment practices for professional development purposes. METHODS: This study adopts an interpretive paradigm to develop an understanding of clinical examiners' interpretations of receiving structured feedback and its impacts on enhancing their assessment literacy and practice. Data were collected from 29 interviews with clinical examiners who assessed the final-year medical objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) at one university. RESULTS: Inductive thematic analysis of these data revealed that the examiners considered the feedback to be useful with practical functions in facilitating communication, comparisons and self-reflection. However, the examiners' level of confidence in the appropriateness of their assessment practices and difficulties in interpreting feedback could be barriers to adopting better practices. CONCLUSION: Feedback for examiners needs to be practical, targeted, and relevant to support them making accountable and defensible judgements of student performance.

The Structured Oral Examination: A Method to Improve Formative Assessment of Fellows in Pediatric Endocrinology.

OBJECTIVE: A structured oral exam (SOE) can be utilized as a formative assessment to provide high-quality formative feedback to trainees, but has not been adequately studied in graduate medical education. We obtained fellow and faculty perspectives on: 1) educational effectiveness, 2) feasibility/acceptability, and 3) time/cost of a SOE for formative feedback. METHODS: Four pediatric endocrinology cases were developed and peer-reviewed to generate a SOE. The exam was administered by faculty to pediatric endocrinology fellows individually, with feedback after each case. Fellow/faculty perspectives of the SOE were obtained through a questionnaire. Qualitative thematic analysis was utilized to analyze written comments generated by faculty and fellows. RESULTS: Seven of 10 pediatric endocrinology fellowship programs and all 18 fellows within those programs agreed to participate. Thematic analysis of fellow and faculty comments resulted in 5 perceived advantages of the SOE: 1) improved identification of clinically relevant knowledge deficits, 2) improved assessment of clinical reasoning, 3) immediate feedback/teaching, 4) assurance of adequate teaching/assessment of uncommon cases, and 5) more clinically relevant assessment. Mean time to administer one case was 15.8 minutes (2.0) and was mentioned as a potential barrier to implementation. Almost all fellows (17/18, 94%) and faculty (6/7, 86%) would recommend or would most likely recommend implementation of the SOE into their curriculum. CONCLUSIONS: The SOE utilized for formative feedback was perceived by fellows and faculty to have several educational advantages over current assessments and high acceptability. Objective educational advantages should be assessed on future studies of the SOE.

The Senior Medical Resident's New Role in Assessment in Internal Medicine.

PURPOSE: With the introduction of competency-based medical education, senior residents have taken on a new, formalized role of completing assessments of their junior colleagues. However, no prior studies have explored the role of near-peer assessment within the context of entrustable professional activities (EPAs) and competency-based medical education. This study explored internal medicine residents' perceptions of near-peer feedback and assessment in the context of EPAs. METHOD: Semistructured interviews were conducted from September 2019 to March 2020 with 16 internal medicine residents (8 first-year residents and 8 second- and third-year residents) at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Interviews were conducted and coded iteratively within a constructivist grounded theory approach until sufficiency was reached. RESULTS: Senior residents noted a tension in their dual roles of coach and assessor when completing EPAs. Senior residents managed the relationship with junior residents to not upset the learner and potentially harm the team dynamic, leading to the documentation of often inflated EPA ratings. Junior residents found senior residents to be credible providers of feedback; however, they were reticent to find senior residents credible as assessors. CONCLUSIONS: Although EPAs have formalized moments of feedback, senior residents struggled to include constructive feedback comments, all while knowing the assessment decisions may inform the overall summative decision of their peers. As a result, EPA ratings were often inflated. The utility of having senior residents serve as assessors needs to be reexamined because there is concern that this new role has taken away the benefits of having a senior resident act solely as a coach.

Using a randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness of social norms feedback to reduce antibiotic prescribing without increasing inequities.

AIMS: Antibiotic overprescription is a key driver of antimicrobial resistance, and rates of community dispensing of antibiotics in New Zealand are high compared to other developed countries. We aimed to test whether a social-norm-based intervention successful elsewhere would have an effect on GPs with high prescribing rates of antibiotics. We also aimed to assess the effects on prescribing for Maori and Pacific patients. METHODS: A randomised controlled trial (n=1,214) tested the effects of a letter mailed to high-prescribing GPs that presented their prescribing data in comparison to their peers. RESULTS: In September-December 2019, after the letters were mailed, the antibiotic prescribing rate in the control arm was 178.8 patients prescribed antibiotics per 1,000 patients prescribed any medicine, and in the intervention arm it was 162.3, a relative difference of 9.2% (p<0.001). GPs in the intervention arm were responsible for an average of 173.5 prescriptions, versus an average of 186.8 prescriptions for GPs in the control arm, a relative difference of 13.3 or 7.1% (p<0.01). Exploratory analyses showed the intervention reduced prescribing to Maori and Pacific patients among historically high prescribing GPs but had no statistically significant impact on low prescribers. CONCLUSIONS: A targeted intervention using social norms reduced prescribing of antibiotics by high-prescribing GPs. Such an approach may be promising to address inequities in access to and use of antibiotics by Maori and Pacific peoples, historically underserved by prescribers, but further investigation is needed.

Natural Language Processing and Assessment of Resident Feedback Quality.

OBJECTIVE: To validate the performance of a natural language processing (NLP) model in characterizing the quality of feedback provided to surgical trainees. DESIGN: Narrative surgical resident feedback transcripts were collected from a large academic institution and classified for quality by trained coders. 75% of classified transcripts were used to train a logistic regression NLP model and 25% were used for testing the model. The NLP model was trained by uploading classified transcripts and tested using unclassified transcripts. The model then classified those transcripts into dichotomized high- and low- quality ratings. Model performance was primarily assessed in terms of accuracy and secondary performance measures including sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). SETTING: A surgical residency program based in a large academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: All surgical residents who received feedback via the Society for Improving Medical Professional Learning smartphone application (SIMPL, Boston, MA) in August 2019. RESULTS: The model classified the quality (high vs. low) of 2,416 narrative feedback transcripts with an accuracy of 0.83 (95% confidence interval: 0.80, 0.86), sensitivity of 0.37 (0.33, 0.45), specificity of 0.97 (0.96, 0.98), and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.86 (0.83, 0.87). CONCLUSIONS: The NLP model classified the quality of operative performance feedback with high accuracy and specificity. NLP offers residency programs the opportunity to efficiently measure feedback quality. This information can be used for feedback improvement efforts and ultimately, the education of surgical trainees.

Entrustment Unpacked: Aligning Purposes, Stakes, and Processes to Enhance Learner Assessment.

Educators use entrustment, a common framework in competency-based medical education, in multiple ways, including frontline assessment instruments, learner feedback tools, and group decision making within promotions or competence committees. Within these multiple contexts, entrustment decisions can vary in purpose (i.e., intended use), stakes (i.e., perceived risk or consequences), and process (i.e., how entrustment is rendered). Each of these characteristics can be conceptualized as having 2 distinct poles: (1) purpose has formative and summative, (2) stakes has low and high, and (3) process has ad hoc and structured. For each characteristic, entrustment decisions often do not fall squarely at one pole or the other, but rather lie somewhere along a spectrum. While distinct, these continua can, and sometimes should, influence one another, and can be manipulated to optimally integrate entrustment within a program of assessment. In this article, the authors describe each of these continua and depict how key alignments between them can help optimize value when using entrustment in programmatic assessment within competency-based medical education. As they think through these continua, the authors will begin and end with a case study to demonstrate the practical application as it might occur in the clinical learning environment.

Numbers Encapsulate, Words Elaborate: Toward the Best Use of Comments for Assessment and Feedback on Entrustment Ratings.

The adoption of entrustment ratings in medical education is based on a seemingly simple premise: to align workplace-based supervision with resident assessment. Yet it has been difficult to operationalize this concept. Entrustment rating forms combine numeric scales with comments and are embedded in a programmatic assessment framework, which encourages the collection of a large quantity of data. The implicit assumption that more is better has led to an untamable volume of data that competency committees must grapple with. In this article, the authors explore the roles of numbers and words on entrustment rating forms, focusing on the intended and optimal use(s) of each, with a focus on the words. They also unpack the problematic issue of dual-purposing words for both assessment and feedback. Words have enormous potential to elaborate, to contextualize, and to instruct; to realize this potential, educators must be crystal clear about their use. The authors set forth a number of possible ways to reconcile these tensions by more explicitly aligning words to purpose. For example, educators could focus written comments solely on assessment; create assessment encounters distinct from feedback encounters; or use different words collected from the same encounter to serve distinct feedback and assessment purposes. Finally, the authors address the tyranny of documentation created by programmatic assessment and urge caution in yielding to the temptation to reduce words to numbers to make them manageable. Instead, they encourage educators to preserve some educational encounters purely for feedback, and to consider that not all words need to become data.

AI-ssessment: Towards Assessment As a Sociotechnical System for Learning.

Two decades ago, the advent of competency-based medical education (CBME) marked a paradigm shift in assessment. Now, medical education is on the cusp of another transformation driven by advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). In this article, the authors explore the potential value of AI in advancing CBME and entrustable professional activities by shifting the focus of education from assessment of learning to assessment for learning. The thoughtful integration of AI technologies in observation is proposed to aid in restructuring our current system around the goal of assessment for learning by creating continuous, tight feedback loops that were not before possible. The authors argued that this personalized and less judgmental relationship between learner and machine could shift today's dominating mindset on grades and performance to one of growth and mastery learning that leads to expertise. However, because AI is neither objective nor value free, the authors stress the need for continuous co-production and evaluation of the technology with geographically and culturally diverse stakeholders to define desired behavior of the machine and assess its performance.

Assessment of technical skills based on learning curve analyses in laparoscopic surgery training.

BACKGROUND: Objective force- and motion-based assessment is currently lacking in laparoscopic skills curricula. This study aimed to evaluate the added value of parameter-based assessment and feedback during training. METHODS: Laparoscopy-naïve surgical residents that took part in a 3-week skills training curriculum were included. A box trainer equipped with the ForceSense system was used for assessment of tissue manipulation- (MaxForce) and instrument-handling skills (Path length and Time). Learning curves were established using linear regression tests. Pre- and post-course comparisons indicated the overall progression and were compared to predefined proficiency levels. A post-course survey was carried out to assess face validity. RESULTS: In total, 4,268 trials, executed by 24 residents, were successfully assessed. Median (interquartile range) MaxForce outcomes improved from 2.7 Newton (interquartile range 1.9-3.8) to 1.8 Newton (interquartile range 1.2-2.4) between pre- and post-course assessment (P ≤ .009). Instrument Path length improved from 7,102.2 mm (interquartile range 5,255.2-9,025.9) to 3,545.3 mm (interquartile range 2,842.9-4,563.2) (P ≤.001). Time to execute the task improved from 159.8 seconds (interquartile range 119.8-219.0) to 60.7 seconds (interquartile range 46.0-79.5) (P ≤ .001). The learning curves revealed during what training phase the proficiency benchmarks were reached for each trainee. In the survey outcomes, trainees indicated that this curriculum should be part of a surgical residency program (mean visual analog scale score of 9.2 ± 0.9 standard deviation). CONCLUSION: Force-, motion-, and time-parameters can be objectively measured during basic laparoscopic skills curricula and do indicate progression of skills over time. The ForceSense parameters enable curricula to be designed for specific proficiency-based training goals and offer the possibility for objective classification of the levels of expertise.

Assessment toolbox for Indian medical graduate competencies.

The new competency-based medical education curriculum for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery is being implemented in a phased manner in medical colleges across India since the year 2019. The Graduate Medical Education Regulations enlist a total of 35 global competencies for the five roles expected of an Indian medical graduate, the roles being clinician, communicator, leader, professional, and life-long learner. Along with an effective implementation of the new curriculum, both in spirit and in action, it is imperative to assess the listed competencies. The new curriculum demands a more careful and mature selection of assessment tools, based on the competency and its expected level of achievement. It is these two variables that make choosing the right assessment method not just a matter of choice, but also of expertise. An array of tools in our armamentarium can sometimes separate confuse and the teachers. So, using the right tool, in the right context, at the right juncture, supplemented by other tools, and backed by constructive feedback, can help nurture the good intent ingrained in the competency-based curriculum. Hence, an attempt was made to compile an assessment toolbox for various global competencies. A PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar search, with relevant keywords was carried out. To the initially extracted 90,121 articles, limitations were applied, duplicates were removed and screening for assessment of global competencies and its attributes was done to select 232 articles. Finally, 31 articles were used for designing the proposed toolbox. Prioritization for the tools for the global competencies was based on thorough literature review and extensive discussion. The evolved assessment toolbox is presented in this article, which would help teachers pick the most useful methods of assessment for global competencies.

Novel Method of Evaluating Liver Transplant Surgery Fellows Using Objective Measures of Operative Efficiency and Surgical Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: The majority of liver transplantations (LTs) in North America are performed by transplant surgery fellows with attending surgeon supervision. Although a strict case volume requirement is mandatory for graduating fellows, no guidelines exist on providing constructive feedback to trainees during fellowship. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review of all adult LTs performed by abdominal transplant surgery fellows at a single American Society of Transplant Surgeons-accredited academic institution from 2005 to 2019 was conducted. Data from the most recent 5 fellows were averaged to generate reference learning curves for 8 variables representing operative efficiency (ie total operative time, warm ischemia time, and cold ischemia time) and surgical outcomes (ie intraoperative blood loss, unplanned return to the operating room, biliary complication, vascular complication, and patient/graft loss). Data for newer fellows were plotted against the reference curves at 3-month intervals to provide an objective assessment measure. RESULTS: Three hundred and fifty-two adult LTs were performed by 5 fellows during the study period. Mean patient age was 56 years; 67% were male; and mean Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score at transplantation was 22. For the 8 primary variables, mean values included the following: total operative time 330 minutes, warm ischemia time 28 minutes, cold ischemia time 288 minutes, intraoperative blood loss 1.59 L, biliary complication 19.6%, unplanned return to operating room 19.3%, and vascular complication 2.3%. A structure for feedback to fellows was developed using a printed report card and through in-person meetings with faculty at 3-month intervals. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative feedback using institution-specific reference curves can provide valuable objective data on progression of individual fellows. It can aid in the timely identification of areas in need of improvement, which enhances the quality of training and has the potential to improve patient care and transplantation outcomes.

Formative peer assessment in higher healthcare education programmes: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: Formative peer assessment focuses on learning and development of the student learning process. This implies that students are taking responsibility for assessing the work of their peers by giving and receiving feedback to each other. The aim was to compile research about formative peer assessment presented in higher healthcare education, focusing on the rationale, the interventions, the experiences of students and teachers and the outcomes of formative assessment interventions. DESIGN: A scoping review. DATA SOURCES: Searches were conducted until May 2019 in PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Education Research Complete and Education Research Centre. Grey literature was searched in Library Search, Google Scholar and Science Direct. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Studies addressing formative peer assessment in higher education, focusing on medicine, nursing, midwifery, dentistry, physical or occupational therapy and radiology published in peer-reviewed articles or in grey literature. DATA EXTRACTIONS AND SYNTHESIS: Out of 1452 studies, 37 met the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised using relevant Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, Joanna Briggs Institute and Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool tools. The pertinent data were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULT: The critical appraisal resulted in 18 included studies with high and moderate quality. The rationale for using formative peer assessment relates to giving and receiving constructive feedback as a means to promote learning. The experience and outcome of formative peer assessment interventions from the perspective of students and teachers are presented within three themes: (1) organisation and structure of the formative peer assessment activities, (2) personal attributes and consequences for oneself and relationships and (3) experience and outcome of feedback and learning. CONCLUSION: Healthcare education must consider preparing and introducing students to collaborative learning, and thus develop well-designed learning activities aligned with the learning outcomes. Since peer collaboration seems to affect students' and teachers' experiences of formative peer assessment, empirical investigations exploring collaboration between students are of utmost importance.