Ottawa 2020 consensus statements for programmatic assessment - 2. Implementation and practice.

Introduction: Programmatic assessment is a longitudinal, developmental approach that fosters and harnesses the learning function of assessment. Yet the implementation, a critical step to translate theory into practice, can be challenging. As part of the Ottawa 2020 consensus statement on programmatic assessment, we sought to provide descriptions of the implementation of the 12 principles of programmatic assessment and to gain insight into enablers and barriers across different institutions and contexts.

Defining competency-based evaluation objectives in family medicine: professionalism.

Objective: To develop and describe observable evaluation objectives for assessing competence in professionalism, which are grounded in the experience of practising physicians.

Design: Modified nominal group technique.

Setting: The College of Family Physicians of Canada in Mississauga, Ont.

Defining competency-based evaluation objectives in family medicine: procedure skills.

Objective: To develop evaluation objectives for assessing competence in procedure skills using a key-features approach. This was part of a multiyear project to develop competency-based evaluation objectives for Certification in Family Medicine.

Design: Nominal group technique.

Effect of field notes on confidence and perceived competence: survey of faculty and residents.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of field notes in assessing teachers' confidence and perceived competence, and the effect of field notes on residents' perceptions of their development of competence.

Design: A faculty and resident survey completed 5 years after field notes were introduced into the program.

Setting: Five Dalhousie University family medicine sites--Fredericton, Moncton, and Saint John in New Brunswick, and Halifax and Sydney in Nova Scotia.

Defining competency-based evaluation objectives in family medicine: communication skills.

Objective: To provide a pragmatic approach to the evaluation of communication skills using observable behaviours, as part of a multiyear project to develop competency-based evaluation objectives for Certification in family medicine.

Design: A nominal group technique was used to develop themes and subthemes and to identify positive and negative observable behaviours that demonstrate competence in communication in family medicine.

Setting: The College of Family Physicians of Canada in Mississauga, Ont.

Defining competency-based evaluation objectives in family medicine: key-feature approach.

Objective: To develop key features for priority topics previously identified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada that, together with skill dimensions and phases of the clinical encounter, broadly describe competence in family medicine.

Design: Modified nominal group methodology, which was used to develop key features for each priority topic through an iterative process.

Setting: The College of Family Physicians of Canada.