Evaluation of assessment marks in the clinical years of an undergraduate medical training programme: Where are we and how can we improve?

• Published in: African Journal of Health Professions Education Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 222 - 228
• Main Authors: Brits, H, Bezuidenhout, J, van der Merwe, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Health and Medical Publishing Group (HMPG) 01-12-2021
• ISSN: 2078-5127; 2078-5127
• DOI: 10.7196/AJHPE.2021.v13i4.1379

Background In high-stakes assessments, the accuracy and consistency of the decision to pass or fail a student is as important as the reliability of the assessment.Objective To evaluate the reliability of results of high-stakes assessments in the clinical phase of the undergraduate medical programme at the University of the Free State, as a step to make recommendations for improving quality assessment.Methods A cohort analytical study design was used. The final, end-of-block marks and the end-of-year assessment marks of both fourth-year and final-year medical students over 3 years were compared for decision reliability, test-retest reliability, stability and reproducibility.Results 1 380 marks in 26 assessments were evaluated. The G-index of agreement for decision reliability ranged from 0.86 to 0.98. In 88.9% of assessments, the test-retest correlation coefficient was