Assessment, supervision and support in clinical practice - Ci Ci Stuart

This book specifically addresses the uniqueness and complexity of learning and assessing in clinical settings, and how such learning can be managed, facilitated and assessed. This is a 'how to do it' book with a solid theoretical base and considerable empirical research behind the clinical learning and assessment strategies. The purpose is to provide workable strategies to help busy practitioners supervise, support and assess learners to achieve validity and reliability of assessment.

The thrust of the book is on how to manage the competence-based continuous assessment process. This includes critical discussions on how to:

construct and use a learning contract and assessment plan for competency-based assessment

use formative and summative assessment processes to facilitate learning and assessment

conduct fair assessments so that validity, reliability, feasibility and discriminating power are achieved

utilise a range of assessment methods in competency-based assessment

use the strategy of triangulation to select and combine methods to obtain the depth and breadth of assessment evidence in order to confer competence

identify learning needs to plan learning around clinical learning opportunities

monitor progress, manage constructive feedback and student self-assessment

make assessment decisions with validity and reliability

manage some assessment problems such as the 'failing student'.

Other topics addressed that relate to learning during clinical practice include discussions on:

how to create, manage and maintain a clinical environment that is a supportive educational environment

the meaning of experience and strategies to facilitate learning through clinical practice to assist learners unearth meaning from experience.