Introducing the Next Era in Assessment.

In this introduction, the guest editors of the "Next Era in Assessment" special collection frame the invited papers by envisioning a next era in assessment of medical education, based on ideas developed during a summit that convened professional and educational leaders and scholars. The authors posit that the next era of assessment will focus unambiguously on serving patients and the health of society, reflect its sociocultural context, and support learners' longitudinal growth and development. As such, assessment will be characterized as transformational, development-oriented and socially accountable.

The Next Era of Assessment Within Medical Education: Exploring Intersections of Context and Implementation.

In competency-based medical education (CBME), which is being embraced globally, the patient-learner-educator encounter occurs in a highly complex context which contributes to a wide range of assessment outcomes. Current and historical barriers to considering context in assessment include the existing post-positivist epistemological stance that values objectivity and validity evidence over the variability introduced by context. This is most evident in standardized testing.

A systematic review of the use of unannounced standardized patients (USPs) in clinical settings: A call for more detailed quality and fidelity descriptions and expansion to new areas.

Background: Unannounced standardized patients (USPs) have long been used to measure clinical performance in situ. These incognito actors capture data on clinician skills during an encounter, as well as patient experience more broadly. A robust USP program requires extensive preparation and standardization efforts.