Throughout the history of medicine, no medical specialist, physician, or nurse ever learned their vocation without seeing a patient. Learning in a practical setting is central to any medical education program. So what’s new about the method of Workplace-Based Assessment, and how does it tie into Competency-Based Medical Education?

Workplace-Based Assessments (WBA) are a new way to evaluate the progress of healthcare professionals in training. It revolves around putting trainees in real medical settings and giving valuable feedback on their performance. WBAs bring trainees and trainers together to help trainees become skilled and excellent. 

WBAs in Competency-Based Medical Education

As medical education has been evolving towards Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME), it has become essential for both trainees and trainers to have a good grasp on trainees’ progress concerning specific competencies.

In simple terms, WBAs provide a structured way to keep an eye on trainees’ progress while they work in a real healthcare environment. Without changing the teaching situation, the WBA helps a trainer assess how a trainee applies the specific competencies that are required for the situation and gives actionable feedback to the trainee. This feedback helps trainees focus on specific development goals and, ultimately, become better doctors.

WBAs are so-called low-stake (or formative) assessments, aimed at continuously guiding the learning process. They ultimately contribute to the high-stakes (summative) assessment of competencies.

Taking Multiple Snapshots

The main goal of Workplace-Based Assessment is to give trainees and their trainers insight into how trainees are progressing on their learning journey. It is impossible to assess a trainee trainee’s level of competence in one snapshot moment, but equally impossible to assess every trainee-patient interaction. To get a comprehensive view of a trainee’s abilities, regularly performed WBAs in varying situations are needed. Each assessment should focus on one or more specific competencies, ideally assessed by several different trainers.
Receiving feedback at multiple moments in time will help trainees progress faster. Trainers, in turn, will gain a better understanding of how their trainees are doing, and how they can provide them with targeted support. So, Workplace-Based Assessments help trainees grow and become excellent professionals.

To sum it up, Workplace-Based Assessments provide a framework that can improve practical medical education. It ultimately supports Competency-Based Medical Education and leads to better healthcare professionals.