ASSESSMENT

Assessment

Short answer question 1: Assessment. (24 marks)

Marina, a mentor on a hospital ward, is assessing the hand hygiene practice of Stephanie, a first-year student, half way through her placement. Consider the following three items of data which will form part of Marina's assessment.

(a) On a number of occasions when Stephanie was not being formally assessed, Marina has noticed her wash her hands carefully, thoroughly, and in accordance with nationally recognised guidelines.

(b) Marina can't remember ever seeing Stephanie use alcohol gel.

(c) Marina has arranged a formal observation session during which Stephanie is to wash her hands, explaining at each point what she is doing and why. Marina is called away to deal with an emergency during the session, and asks a colleague to watch. Afterwards, the colleague tells Marina, 'No worries, you can sign her off'.

For each item of data (a), (b) and (c), discuss how reliable you think it is and explain why you think that (9 marks)

(a) For assessing health profession learner's clinical competencies and related knowledge, assessment can be defined as the purposeful observation and questioning undertaken to ascertain the learner's ability to perform particular clinical interventions in precise accordance with established or approved guidelines, and their knowledge of rationales for each action (Gopee, 2011).

(b) This scenario is a valid assessment of Stephanie's practice. Assessment can be based on observations, structured essays, case studies, seminar etc. Marina should be assessed formally to pass her learning outcomes as poor hand hygiene on a ward setting is a source of infection.

(c) Stephanie followed the steps of hand hygiene. Marina ensured that Stephanie is following the rules and avoided the use of alcohol gel.

This scenario is a concurrent validity assessment of Marina's practice. Marina was observed by two staff members with experience and they both reach the same conclusion, after discussion Stephanie should be able to confirm her own assessment on Marina.

Do these three pieces of data allow Marina to make a valid assessment of (i) Stephanie's hand hygiene practice, and (ii) her understanding of relevant theory? Explain your answer. (6 marks)

Stephanie's assessment on Marina is reliable, because it was a close observation from a mentor to a mentee. Marina performed the skills on different occasions that showed consistency in safe practice.

(ii) In this scenario the assessment is not reliable; Stephanie cannot remember seeing marina practicing the right thing. She needs to be observed on a different occasion while she uses alcohol gel.

This is reliable because of Stephanie's colleague assessment and feedback. Consistent assessment is evident as there is time for Marina to practice the skill effectively. Therefore, this describes the fact that onetime assessment is not enough for coming up with the right conclusions and Stephanie must be observed at different instances also for measuring her performance.

Marina and Stephanie need to plan for the second half of the placement. Considering (a), (b) and (c) separately, what if anything needs to happen to enable Marina to make a final comprehensive summative assessment of Stephanie's hand hygiene? (9 marks)

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