THE ROLE OF THE EXTERNAL EXAMINER IN THE ASSESSMENT OF CLINICAL-PRACTICE

In the first part of this paper we give a brief overview of the develo pment of the different types of clinical assessment used in the UK. So me general problems related to the assessment of clinical practice are outlined. The second part of the paper focuses on the role of the ext ernal examiner in the clinical assessment of students. We outline some of the major problems we encountered as internal and external examine rs on the same university-based course in which '1-day' practical asse ssments were undertaken. We emphasize the particular problems of exter nally assessing the clinical practice component of the course in this manner and conclude that the continuous assessment model, while not wi thout its own problems, is potentially a more effective approach to st udent assessment.