Mekasha Amha
Department of Pediatrics and child Health, Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ethiop Med J. 2004 Jan;42(1):63-71.
Assessment is a component of any instructional system. In medical education several methods have been in use and newer techniques are emerging depending on specific curricula. In using any assessment method it is important to check for practicality, validity and reliability. The methods that are being used currently in Ethiopia have been in use in many countries and still remain as the predominant methods used in many parts of the world. The methods of assessment used in Ethiopia include long case, short case, viva voce and progressive assessment. Each of these methods have its own weaknesses and strengths. The long case has high face validity though there are many advantages related to patient selection and patient and examiner variation, resulting in low reliability. The specific advantage of short case is the diversity of patients observed by the candidate though subjectivity and inter rate variability remain major drawbacks. Progressive assessment is useful in that direct observation and more exposure are used to assess students. However, subjectivity remains a major weakness of this method. It is noted that viva voce is affected by subjectivity and personality of the candidate and appears to add little to the other methods of assessment. In general, the relationship between the various methods of assessment is not consistent. There is a need to find out more objective and effective methods of assessment or at least, improve on the existing ones. In the mean time, in using any of these assessment methods, one should look into the weaknesses and strengths of each method.
评估是任何教学系统的一个组成部分。在医学教育中，已经使用了多种方法，并且根据特定课程，新的技术也在不断涌现。在使用任何评估方法时，检查其实用性、有效性和可靠性都很重要。埃塞俄比亚目前正在使用的方法在许多国家都已使用，并且仍然是世界许多地区使用的主要方法。埃塞俄比亚使用的评估方法包括长病例、短病例、口试和渐进性评估。这些方法中的每一种都有其自身的弱点和优点。长病例具有较高的表面效度，尽管在患者选择以及患者和考官差异方面存在许多问题，导致可靠性较低。短病例的具体优点是考生观察到的患者具有多样性，尽管主观性和评分者间的变异性仍然是主要缺点。渐进性评估的有用之处在于通过直接观察和更多的接触来评估学生。然而，主观性仍然是这种方法的一个主要弱点。需要注意的是，口试受考生主观性和个性的影响，似乎对其他评估方法贡献不大。一般来说，各种评估方法之间的关系并不一致。有必要找到更客观、有效的评估方法，或者至少改进现有方法。与此同时，在使用这些评估方法中的任何一种时，都应该考虑每种方法的弱点和优点。
