An Introduction to Assessment in Health Professional Education : My Experience

(American College of Rheumatology, 2017)

Assessment is unavoidable; in fact it is incredibly important, maybe no more so than in health professional education. There is too much at stake to allow health professionals to practice without prior thorough assessment; and a form of assessment that we can have the confidence in to be assured that health professionals starting work are competent and at the very least safe at practicing the theory they have been taught.

As a doctor, I am no stranger to assessments both during my undergraduate degree and now preparing for postgraduate medical examinations. I have mainly been exposed to fairly traditional methods of assessments initially most frequently written exams and essays. Further into my degree, simulation and Objective structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE’s) took a larger role in assessment alongside written assessments.

Although using computers and various other forms of technology is essential to my every day work, I haven’t used this medium as a form of assessment so far in my education.

With this in mind, I thought presenting this assessment in a form new to me, a blog, would be a good way to challenge myself. A blog is a type of social software which has been used as a part of teaching/education for some time. (Luik & Taimalu, 2016).