AUDIT AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT - A CRITERION-REFERENCED MARKING SCHEDULE

Background. 1996 will see the introduction of summative assessment of general practitioner registrars (trainees). One part of this assessmen t is the written submission of practical work. In the west of Scotland , audit projects have been chosen as the format for practical work. A valid and reliable marking schedule for such projects is needed. Aim. A study was undertaken to develop a criterion-referenced marking sched ule for assessing registrars' audit projects for summative assessment. Method. Medical and non-medical professionals, in a series of worksho ps, compiled a list of essential elements of good audit. These feature s were tested and refined using registrars' audit projects. All traine rs in the west of Scotland were then sent a list of 14 criteria and as ked to indicate whether each criterion was an essential or desirable c omponent of a registrar's audit project for summative assessment A fin al workshop was held to develop an audit marking schedule. Results. Of 155 trainers in she west of Scotland, 135 replied to the list of crit eria for registrar audit projects (87%). Ten criteria were deemed esse ntial or desirable by 80% or more of the respondents. Participants in the final workshop selected five criteria which would form the audit p roject marking schedule for registrars undergoing summative assessment . These were: defined reason for choice of audit project, relevance of criteria chosen, appropriate preparation and planning, appropriate in terpretation of relevant data and detailed proposals for change. For a n audit project to pass assessment all five criteria must be present. Conclusion. A criterion-referenced approach to assessing registrars' a udit projects, developed from their trainers' opinions of essential or desirable criteria for good audit, is described. Further evaluation o f the criterion-referenced marking schedule is required.