Design guidelines for assessing students' interprofessional competencies in healthcare education: a consensus study

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Assessment Design

Background:

• Healthcare systems increasingly require professionals educated in interprofessional (IP) contexts.
• Effective assessment tools are crucial for evaluating IP competencies but evidence-based guidelines are lacking.
• This study addresses the need for structured guidance in developing IP assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish evidence-informed guidelines for designing interprofessional (IP) assessments in healthcare education.
• To provide a framework for evaluating student development of IP competencies.
• To support the creation of high-quality IP assessment tools.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative consensus study utilizing the nominal group technique.
• Five expert groups (IP experts, patients, educational scientists, teachers, students) reached intra-group consensus.
• A subsequent inter-group meeting achieved consensus on IP assessment guidelines.

Main Results:

• A comprehensive set of 26 guidelines for designing performance assessments in IP education.
• Ten guidelines focus on IP assessment tasks and assessors.
• Six guidelines pertain to IP assessment procedures.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional (IP) assessment is complex, requiring more than mono-professional assessment.
• High-quality IP assessments necessitate evaluation of multiple products/processes, an IP assessor pool, and clear standards for collaboration and individual contributions.
• The developed guidelines, based on expert consensus, require further testing in educational practice.