Competence can be defined as “the ability to do somethingwell.” The goal of ophthalmology residency training is to pro-duce competent ophthalmologists. To prove competence,appropriate assessment methods are required. These methodsshould follow certain principles of assessment. 1 Teachingophthalmologist's time is valuable and limited and often poorlyor uncompensated. Thus any assessment should be as time-efficient as possible but still provide valid and reliable infor-mation. However, the easiest and fastest assessment methods(written tests) are not appropriate for assessment of skill.Additionally, performance is situation specific. Good perform-ance on medical knowledge multiple choice test does not meanthere will also be good performance in procedural skills orexamination techniques. Thus situation specific assessmentsmust be used. Assessment methods should be known by theresidents and aligned with objectives and performance expect-ations. Assessments can also be a learning experience. This maynot always be possible if the assessment is an examination thatleads to passing or failing a course, rotation or residency. Thistype of assessment is known as summative feedback. On thecontrary, formative feedback is assessment that is designed toimprove performance and thus must be shared with the resident.The vast majority of assessments should be formative. In recentyears a variety of ophthalmology-specific competency assess-ment tools have been developed.
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