The formative and summative use of mini-CEx assessments with undergraduate medical students

Aim: the paper reports on the introduction of the mini-CEx at the Medical School in Southampton in 2004-5 and changes made in 2005-6. It outlines the findings of an evaluation that will be of interest to others planning to use this assessment.Summary of work: a statistical analysis of 2,340 completed mini-CEx forms was undertaken, along with analysis of qualitative data from tape-recorded interviews with staff and students. The results led to changes that have been evaluated in a follow-up study.Summary of results: the findings from the first evaluation were mostly positive but a range of problems and concerns were identified that will be described in the presentation. It was necessary to make a number of changes to the format and organisation. The recent evaluation shows that these changes have helped overcome many of the concerns.Take home messages: the mini-CEx can be successfully adapted as a formative and summative assessment tool for undergraduate medical programmes. Staff and students prefer the mini-CEx to traditional long-case examinations and particularly value the formative aspects of the assessment