AUDIT AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT - SYSTEM-DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING

Registrars in general practice have to submit an audit project as one of four parts of summative assessment. A criterion-referenced marking schedule has been developed in the West of Scotland, consisting of fiv e independent criteria all of which have to be judged above minimum co mpetence to pass. A system was developed to test the instrument using a marking exercise which calculated the sensitivity and specificity of the assessment process, for different combinations of assessors. One hundred and two registrar audit projects were then assessed by three i ndependent assessors. Ninety-two (90%) passed and 10 projects (10%) we re referred back to the registrar as being below minimum competence. A fter resubmission six projects (6%) passed, two projects (2%) were sti ll below minimum competence, and two (2%) were not resubmitted. A refe rral process for assessing the audit projects of general practice regi strars has been developed to maximize the opportunity of finding a pro ject below minimum competence.