An introduction to workplace-based assessments

Abstract Recent trends in medical education are moving rapidly away from gaining a certain number of marks in high-stakes examinations and towards gathering evidence of clinical competence and professional behavior observed in clinical environments (workplace-based learning). In the Miller’s framework for assessing clinical competence, workplace-based methods of assessment target the highest level of the pyramid and collect information about doctors’ performance in their everyday practice. Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS), Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) and Case-based discussion (CbD) are