Progress Testing: Considerations in Navigating its Use and Value for Programs in the Health Professions in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Progress testing is a formative assessment method gaining popularity in the oversight of undergraduate professional health programs to track learning and performance trajectories. In contrast to the typical cumulative evaluations, progress tests enable the continuous assessment of learners’ progress. It also allows educators to see where learners may be struggling, and offer constant feedback as they progress through the course, achieving competency-based learning goals. This scientific review focuses on the significance of progress testing as a method of assessing learners’ mastery of content, and in promoting a culture of accountability and improvement in the professional health education ecosystem.The scope of this scientific review was generated through a snowballing sampling approach of literature that evolved from a shared collaborative interest in the purported value of progress testing. The focus of the scientific review included analyzing publications, peer-reviewed studies, and systematic reviews from PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The review progressed and emerged as a comparative assessment of the state of progress testing globally, particularly amongst certain G20 and Scandinavian nations, and with specific reference to the increasing number of such tests in use locally in medical and pharmacy courses in Saudi Arabia. The key findings, while noting how the literature was navigated as a scientific inquiry, include how progress testing is defined within the global community, its uses and value, emerging trends, essential lessons that can be derived from integrated progress testing, the benefits and limitations of its adoption in professional health education frameworks. Local adaptations in the use of progress testing suggest that it can facilitate progressive monitoring of learners, creating options for remedial intervention when required. Furthermore, an understanding of inter-institutional collaboration, the fostering of effective sharing of related resources, and how the uptake of assessment strategies can be managed in ways that are responsive to national healthcare contexts, emerges. Progress testing is expanding in Saudi Arabia in tandem with other global regions, bringing with it recommendations that guide related educational practice, including ensuring the consistency of progress tests, integrating IT solutions for efficiency and convenience, and highlighting improvement in linkages with competency development, particularly in practice-oriented healthcare disciplines. These approaches contribute towards creating a quality healthcare education system, preparing learners for clinical practice, and offering them a quality education that adheres to national as well as international approaches associated with rapidly developing healthcare ecosystems. Adopting the relevant strategies has the potential to enhance the quality and efficiency of professional healthcare education, the competency of future healthcare practitioners, and ultimately the quality and safety of healthcare rendered to a nation.