The role of theexternal examiner in the assessment of clinical Practice

In the first part of this paper we give a brief overview of the development of the different types of clinical assessment used in the UK. Some general problems related to the assessment of clinical practice are outlined. The second part of the paper focuses on the role of the external examiner in the clinical assessment of students. We outline some of the major problems we encountered as internal and external examiners on the same university-based course in which ‘I-day’ practical assessments were undertaken. We emphasize the particular problems of externally assessing the clinical practice component of the course in this manner and conclude that the continuous assessment model, while not without its own problems, is potentially a more effective approach to student assessment.