Variation in assessment and standard setting practices across UK undergraduate medicine and the need for a benchmark

MacDougall, Margaret

doi:10.5116/ijme.560e.c964

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Using a secure online survey system, the 27 out of a potential 34 medical schools which had previously consented to participate in a comprehensive national survey on assessment and standard setting (MacDougall, 2015) were invited, as part 2 of this survey, to respond to a matrix-style question on national and shared assessment. This question was merged with a follow-up free text question.…”

Section: Conduct Of Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The earlier part of the survey, which was carried out during the same period, involved a review of UK medical school practices in choice of question styles and corresponding standard setting methods at different stages of assessment within their undergraduate curricula. Full details of the findings of this part of the survey and the procedure for recruitment of respondents for the survey as a whole are already published elsewhere (MacDougall, 2015). Figure 1 presents the two questions (here denoted by "MQ" and "FTQ" to signify "matrix-style question" and "free-text-style question", respectively), together with the supplementary content originally provided on introducing these questions.…”

Section: Conduct Of Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The stems of the Likert scale questions, above were ordered as illustrated to avoid the component on shared assessment more generally serving as a leading question to the component on national examinations in particular. This was important, noting that sense of need for a common standard (or, "uniformity of competency") across medical schools may incentivize the introduction of a UK national examination (MacDougall, 2015). The 5 lines by 100 characters text box provided for the free text component (latter part of question) afforded considerable space for respondents to elaborate.…”

Section: Conduct Of Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the comprehensive nature of the questions in part 1 of the survey (MacDougall, 2015), extending the survey questionnaire to allow an in-depth exploration of reasons for responses provided to part 2 of the survey would have been unreasonable. Instead, these responses are used in this paper as a basis for recommendations on addressing respondent concerns.…”

Section: Disagreementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These observations point to the need for the GMC to articulate their standards and recommendations for test development in a succinct manner, accessible for all stakeholders, including those unfamiliar with the nuances of While strict procedures were followed (MacDougall, 2015) in the identification of appropriate representatives from each participating medical school in the survey for this study and allowance was made for these representatives to liaise with their colleagues before submission of their final responses, it must be recognized that the feedback generated is unlikely to reflect the views of all staff who deliver medical education within the respondent schools. However, the findings of this study should make a useful contribution to current understanding on medical school concerns about the UKMLA and shared assessment more generally and how these concerns might be addressed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Concerns that Linger: Medical School Perspectives on the UKMLA and Shared Assessment

MacDougall¹

2018

JED

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The General Medical Council have closed their formal consultation process soliciting recommendations on how to develop a UK Medical Licensing Assessment (UKMLA). The output of this consultation goes a considerable way to identifying concerns about implementation of such an assessment. However, there is scope for more attention to detail in specifying concerns held by individual UK medical schools, even where these schools have indicated acceptance or approval of the UKMLA. There is therefore a need for increased transparency in identifying stakeholder viewpoints to ensure these lingering concerns can be addressed during the current development phase. The current study contributes to addressing this need through providing an overview of UK medical school views on introducing a UKMLA and relatedly, on shared assessment as a source of uniformity of competency across medical schools. Using a secure online survey system, response data were collected during 13-30 January, 2014 from recommended assessment specialists, representing their respective medical schools. Likert scale and free text response data were collected. Based on Likert sale data, more medical schools appeared accepting of these ideas than either those who expressed disapproval or those who expressed uncertainty. Nevertheless, concerns still lingered. Areas of concern included stifling of curriculum innovation, supporting students who fail the UKMLA and quality and administration of assessment. Eleven recommendations have emerged for addressing respondent concerns. In presenting these recommendations arising specifically from participant feedback, I invite responses from all categories of stakeholder in order to promote open discussion beyond the formal consultation period.

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Section: Conduct Of Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conduct Of Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conduct Of Surveymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Disagreementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Concerns that Linger: Medical School Perspectives on the UKMLA and Shared Assessment

MacDougall¹

2018

JED

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Urology boot camp for medical students: Using virtual technology to enhance undergraduate education

et al. 2023

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ObjectivesThe study aims to describe the methodology of converting the urology boot camp for medical students into a virtual course with key take home points for a successful conversion and to present quantitative and qualitative data demonstrating the impact of the boot camp on improving delegates' knowledge and clinical acumen.Materials and methodsThe face‐to‐face boot camp was converted to a virtual format employing a variety of techniques including; utilizing an online platform to deliver live screened lectures, using online polling software to foster an interactive learning environment and displaying pre‐recorded videos to teach practical skills. Validated Multiple Choice Questionnaires (MCQs) were used prior to and after the course. This enabled the assessment of delegates' knowledge of urology according to the national undergraduate curriculum, and paired t tests were used to quantify the level of improvement. Thematic analysis was carried out on post‐course delegate feedback to identify highlights of the course and ways of improving future iterations.ResultsIn total, 131 delegates took part in the pilot virtual course. Of these, 105 delegates completed the pre‐ and post‐course MCQs. There was a statistically significant improvement in the assessment following the course (p = <0.001) with mean score increasing from 47.5% pre‐course to 65.8% post‐course. All delegates who attended the most recent implementation of the virtual course (n = 31) felt it improved their knowledge and confidence in urology. Twenty delegates (64.5%) felt that it prepared them for both final year medical school examinations and working as a foundation year doctor. Positive themes in feedback were identified, which included the interactive nature of the course, the quality of teaching, the level and content of information provided and the high yield, concise organization of the teaching schedule.ConclusionUsing virtual technology and innovative educational frameworks, we have demonstrated the successful conversion of the urology boot camp for medical students to a virtual format. At a national level, with support from the British Association of Urological Surgeons, the face‐to‐face component of the course will continue to run in parallel with the virtual course with the aim of standardizing and improving UK undergraduate urological education. The virtual course has been implemented on an international scale, and this has already shown promising results.

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Preparation for practice and the arguments for standardisation in view of the forthcoming medical licensing exam: A literature review

Sharma

Alsaffarini

2020

Medical Teacher

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Variation in assessment and standard setting practices across UK undergraduate medicine and the need for a benchmark

Cited by 18 publications

References 12 publications

Concerns that Linger: Medical School Perspectives on the UKMLA and Shared Assessment

Concerns that Linger: Medical School Perspectives on the UKMLA and Shared Assessment

Urology boot camp for medical students: Using virtual technology to enhance undergraduate education

Preparation for practice and the arguments for standardisation in view of the forthcoming medical licensing exam: A literature review

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