At the start of 2024, the international community of practice involved with quality assessment for the health professions will be preparing to gather together for the 21st Ottawa Conference on the assessment of Clinical Competence. If you haven’t done so already check out the details at https://ottawa2024.au/
It is almost 16 years since the Ottawa conference was first hosted in Australia. In 2008, the 13th Ottawa conference (affectionately known as the “Ozzawa” Conference) came to Melbourne and welcomed over 1,000 assessment researchers, practitioners and students from across the health professions to debate assessment trends, priorities and controversies with the banner: “OZZAWA 2008 – Assessment for Life”: The Life of the Patient The Life of the Professional The Life of the Programme”. You can find details of the conference programme here and check out what the topics of the day were.
Approaching 2 decades later, it is interesting to reflect on what has changed and what our key imperatives are in the assessment arena today.
The Conference theme for “Ozzawa24” of “Assessment Near and Far” is linked with a number of concepts around effective assessment. These include the need for local and remote assessment, inclusivity in assessment activities, near- and distal-peer, and self- assessment, multisource assessment, and the impact of geographic and social remoteness on assessment practices. The objectives of the conference reflect those concepts. The 2024 event will:
- Initiate an inclusive mandate for the conference across all, inclusive of professions, gender, ethnic origin, Indigenous communities and LBGTQI+ identities.
- Enable more people and health professional groups to attend the Conference.
- Convene academic discussions on assessment in health professional education that are contemporary, relevant and challenging for the academic community.
- Discuss the nature of long-term and post- or peri-pandemic assessment.
- Initiate a reflection on the use and misuse of artificial intelligence in assessment practices.
- Define new and contribute to existing consensus statements on areas of assessment.
- Showcase research and best practice on assessment of clinical competence/capabilities.
- Stimulate innovation in assessments.
- Bring together experts and beginners, and artisans and apprentices in assessment for supportive networking.
If you are interested in assessing clinical competence this is the best event to attend in 2024!