WBA has experienced unprecedented growth in medical education. Reliability, validity and feasibility of this group of assessment method are aspects that many question, particularly for high stakes assessment.
An article, by Nair and colleagues with an accompanying editorial by Singer, published in the MJA September 2016 issue reported on a study analysing the reliability of WBAs in evaluating IMGs.
This study reported some unexpected positive benefits for some participating sites. One to note was the improved recruitment and retention of practitioners to regional areas that offered WBA. With current debate around retention of practitioners in rural areas, this finding could be worthy of further investigation. Could the availability of a WBA system be an incentive for practitioners to move to rural and regional sites?
Balakrishnan (Kichu) R Nair, Joyce MW Moonen-van Loon, Mulavana S Parvathy and Cees PM van der Vleuten. Composite reliability of workplace-based assessment for international medical graduates. Med J Aust 2016; 205 (5): 212-2
2016 https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2016/205/5/retracted-composite-reliability-workplace-based-assessment-international-medical
Andrew H Singer. The potential of workplace-based assessment of international medical graduates. Med J Aust 2016; 205 (5): 209-210.
2016 https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2016/205/5/potential-workplace-based-assessment-international-medical-graduates