The Education Department of the Royal College of Physicians has carried out two pilot projects looking at the utility of workplace-based assessment methods.
In 2003-4 mini-CEX, DOPS and MSF were evaluated. The following report was produced:
A paper from this work was published in Medical Education:
Wilkinson JR, Crossley JGM, Wragg A et al (2008) Implementing workplace-based assessment across the medical specialties in the United Kingdom. Medical Education 42: 364–373
In 2008/9 we piloted the use of 5 workplace-based assessment methods in specialty training. Full and summary reports on this work are now published:
Evidence from this pilot and work elsewhere suggests that addition of “anchor statements” based on clear descriptors of performance rather than expectations for stage of training will make assessments more reliable and encourage more realistic ratings.
We have, therefore, decided to make adjustments to the ACAT, CbD and mini-CEX forms. One additional question about overall performance will be added to the forms as they appear in the JRCPTB ePortfolio for CMT and higher training. The change will appear on 14/15 December 2009. More details are in the WPBA anchor statement:
A of the workplace-based assessments (WPBA) in postgraduate training of physicians in the UK was submitted to PMETB along with revised curricula in 2009: