Assessment Reimagined: Evaluating Non Clinical Core Competence Beyond "Shows How" - The Summative Portfolio

Date: Friday, 25 September 2026 | Time: 1635 - 1805 | Venue: The NAK Auditorium, Academia (SGH Campus)

Track Type: Symposium

Speaker(s):

Overview:

Unlike Clinical competencies assessments where there have been well-established methods of assessments, there is a relative paucity of assessment methods for the non-clinical core competencies of Residents in their role as a Medical Educator, Administrator, and Leader.

Portfolio Examinations not only assess at the tip of Miller's Pyramid of competency, it is also a longitudinal documentation of learning, performing, and continuous improvement. However, it is not frequently used as a summative assessment in Medical Residency Programmes.

Emergency Medicine is one the few specialties which uses an Education Portfolio Exam as one component of their residency exit summative requirements, hence, this symposium aims to share the Emergency Medicine Residency Journey from a traditional viva exam to that of a Portfolio examination and the lessons learnt from this experience via a panel discussion consisting of various stakeholders from Chief Examiner, examiners, faculty, and a previous resident who had gone through this summative process.

Learning Outcome(s):

By attending the symposium, the participants will be able to

1) Describe the historical context and drivers that prompted the transition from traditional viva examinations to an education portfolio assessment model within the Post Graduate Emergency Medicine training programme

2) Understand the advantages of a portfolio examination

3) Analyse operational barriers and challenges encountered during transition, raised by trainees and programme directors

4) Identify the components of an education portfolio, including reflective practice, evidence of impact, dissemination, and scholarly documentation

5) Understand the principles and best practices of how to implement a summative portfolio examination in a residency programme

6) Discuss the faculty development needs and assessor calibration challenges encountered when transitioning from structured viva scoring to portfolio review

7) Synthesise lessons learned from the EM journey to propose transferrable principles for other specialties or postgraduate programmes considering similar assessment reforms in the Singapore healthcare education landscape

Target Audience:

Medical educators; Faculty, Educator leads, RAC members, examiners