Final-year medical student Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine synchronous summative tele-assessments during a COVID-19 Delta-variant stay-at-home lockdown

Objective We describe the planning, process and evaluation of final-year Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine summative assessments in a four-year graduate medical degree program, during a COVID-19 Delta-variant public health stay-at-home lockdown. Conclusions We conducted separate written and clinical synchronous (real-time simultaneous) tele-assessments. We used online assessment technology with students, examiners and simulated patients, all in different physical locations. Medical students' examination performance showed a good range. This was comparable to other discipline stations, and performance in previous years. There was no differential performance of students through the day of the assessments.

Automated summary

This study describes the planning, process, and evaluation of final-year Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine summative assessments during a COVID-19 Delta-variant public health stay-at-home lockdown. Separate written and clinical synchronous tele-assessments were conducted using online assessment technology. Medical students' examination performance showed a good range and was comparable to other discipline stations and previous years. There was no differential performance of students throughout the day of the assessments.