Abstract
Authentic assessment emphasises the evaluation of students' knowledge and skills in real-world contexts. Our MSc in Critical Care programme aims to measure students' abilities to apply their learning in the clinical workplace through in-course assessments involving a variety of tasks with real-world relevance and requiring skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and self-reflection. The online programme recruits students from healthcare professions involved in the management of critically ill patients, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics. Regarding this year’s Virtual Forum theme, 'Changing Health Education for Changing Times’, we have seen a shift in the demographic of students enrolling on the programme since its launch in 2019. We wanted to ascertain whether an authentic assessment approach disadvantages a particular group(s) of students, since different healthcare professionals will have varying levels of experience of the clinical scenarios posed.
We analysed the assessments for the six first year courses across academic years 2021/22 and 2022/23, and compared the marks awarded across the professions of enrolled students (n=91). In-course assessment, comprising a variety of tasks involving clinical scenarios and trial data (e.g. critical appraisal, infographic, oral structured patient handover, reflective essay, blog post), constitutes 100% of course marks. The influence of profession on end-of-year scores was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Differences between group means were identified using one-way analysis of variance for multiple group comparisons.
Healthcare profession was not found to be a predictor of end-of-year scores (mean ± SD) (doctors: 63 ± 8 (n=37); nurses: 62 ± 8 (n=23); paramedics: 65 ± 5 (n=25); clinical pharmacists: 66 ± 1819 (n=3); physiotherapists: 70 ± 119(n=3)(P=0.26). There was no significant difference in performance between five healthcare professions across each of the six core courses (P-values ranged between 0.15 to 0.95).
Demand for online qualifications has risen as a result of the pandemic, with greater recognition of their value by students and employers; by delivering core academic content online, in-the-workplace training can be augmented without the need to take time out to pursue a further qualification. The absence of a significant association between students’ profession and academic performance on the online MSc in Critical Care programme suggests that the content of the programme stands alone, and is not necessarily dependent on previous clinical experience. Furthermore, each student within a particular profession can have a very different profile of skills and experience compared to others in the same profession. Thus, we shall retain our interprofessional, authentic assessment approach going forwards and can reassure students that everyone has the potential to perform well on-programme, irrespective of their professional background.
We analysed the assessments for the six first year courses across academic years 2021/22 and 2022/23, and compared the marks awarded across the professions of enrolled students (n=91). In-course assessment, comprising a variety of tasks involving clinical scenarios and trial data (e.g. critical appraisal, infographic, oral structured patient handover, reflective essay, blog post), constitutes 100% of course marks. The influence of profession on end-of-year scores was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Differences between group means were identified using one-way analysis of variance for multiple group comparisons.
Healthcare profession was not found to be a predictor of end-of-year scores (mean ± SD) (doctors: 63 ± 8 (n=37); nurses: 62 ± 8 (n=23); paramedics: 65 ± 5 (n=25); clinical pharmacists: 66 ± 1819 (n=3); physiotherapists: 70 ± 119(n=3)(P=0.26). There was no significant difference in performance between five healthcare professions across each of the six core courses (P-values ranged between 0.15 to 0.95).
Demand for online qualifications has risen as a result of the pandemic, with greater recognition of their value by students and employers; by delivering core academic content online, in-the-workplace training can be augmented without the need to take time out to pursue a further qualification. The absence of a significant association between students’ profession and academic performance on the online MSc in Critical Care programme suggests that the content of the programme stands alone, and is not necessarily dependent on previous clinical experience. Furthermore, each student within a particular profession can have a very different profile of skills and experience compared to others in the same profession. Thus, we shall retain our interprofessional, authentic assessment approach going forwards and can reassure students that everyone has the potential to perform well on-programme, irrespective of their professional background.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 17 Aug 2023 |
Event | 2nd Annual IAMSE Virtual Forum - Online Duration: 18 Oct 2023 → 20 Oct 2023 Conference number: 2 https://julnet.swoogo.com/iamsevirtualforum23/curriculum |
Conference
Conference | 2nd Annual IAMSE Virtual Forum |
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Abbreviated title | IAMSE #VirtualForum23 |
Period | 18/10/23 → 20/10/23 |
Internet address |