Simulation-based ongoing professional practice evaluation in psychiatry: a novel tool for performance assessment.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychiatry
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) requires scalable, competency-based assessments.
• Hospitals need methods to evaluate clinical performance with minimal disruption.
• A psychiatry department sought an efficient OPPE tool for violence risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and implement a web-based psychiatric simulation for department-wide OPPE.
• To evaluate the scalability and efficiency of simulation-based assessment.
• To identify clinicians requiring focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE).

Main Methods:

• 410 of 412 invited psychiatrists completed an online violence risk assessment simulation.
• Participants used a web-based tool, selecting actions via drop-down menus.
• Performance was scored on simulation actions (Measure 1) and summative responses (Measure 2).

Main Results:

• 92.9% passed Measure 1 (simulation actions); 87.6% passed Measure 2 (summative responses).
• Only 1.2% failed both measures.
• 18.3% of participants were referred for focused professional practice evaluation (FPPE).

Conclusions:

• Web-based simulation is a scalable and efficient method for large-scale OPPE.
• E-mail engagement effectively facilitated participation in the online assessment.
• The simulation successfully identified clinicians needing further evaluation (FPPE).