Editor -The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a sudden and drastic change in anaesthesia resident training, with significantly reduced case volumes, 1 and frequent trainee redeployment to other clinical areas. Additionally, the increased demands related to applying COVID-19 perioperative protocols and personal protective equipment recommendations, social isolation, and concerns of getting ill and infecting family members are all factors impacting the health and well-being of both residents and faculty. 2 Many postgraduate anaesthesia training programs worldwide have shifted to competency-based medical education curricula, the success of which are contingent upon adequate clinical exposure, timely workplace-based assessments (i.e. "what doctors do in practice") with learner feedback, with close monitoring to gauge learner progression. 3 A paucity of formative assessment opportunities during this pandemic is a significant concern for competency-based programs; however, the real-world impact of this pandemic on trainee experience and assessment has not been documented. As the largest Canadian anaesthesia residency training program, located in one of the Canadian epicentres for COVID-19, we were interested in gauging the pandemic's effect on learner assessment. We conducted a study that aimed to compare the quantity and the quality (as determined by information richness) of resident assessments completed during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 15 to May 15, 2020) with the same timeframe in 2019. The primary outcome was the number of assessments completed, secondary outcomes included, time to assessment completion, and richness of information provided (entrustment ratings and comments).
Concurrent with the launch of a competency-based program in 2017, the Anesthesiology Department at the University of Toronto created and implemented a novel 'assessment dashboard' that captures and visualises resident workplace-based assessments to facilitate reflective learning (i.e., assessment for learning). Assessment data related to entrustable professional activities (EPAs), essential tasks of a discipline, were extracted for residents in postgraduate years 1 to 2, including completion rates, time to completion, assessment type (direct observation versus case review), entrustment rating, and faculty comments. We excluded data from postgraduate years 3 and above, as it lacked comparative EPA data for 2019. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Toronto. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, with continuous variables summarised using means and standard deviations, and discrete variables using proportions. Significant differences between years were examined using two-sample t-tests for continuous variables and chi-square analyses for discrete variables (α=0.05).
In 2019, 32 residents requested 350 EPA assessments, whereas 36 residents requested 276 assessments in 2020 (Table 1) Formative assessments are more meaningful to residents when they provide rich narrative feedback. 5
This study's results highlight the importance for learners and residency programs to monitor closely formative assessment data. For residents, a learner performance dashboard that analyses current assessment data in a visual format can be a powerful metacognitive tool as it makes them aware of their performance and behaviour, supporting critical reflection. 6 Assessment data can also serve to shape learning behaviours and encourage residents to direct their own learning and develop goal-directed learning actions, which can be collaboratively supported by an academic coach or advisor, for a successful educational outcome. 7 In a disruptive environment, longitudinal coaching relationships can stimulate reflective dialogue and help residents generate personalized learning plans. 8 For programs, an assessment dashboard can facilitate identification of missing evidence of competence, and identify clinical gaps and changing trends in learning curves 9 , which can be targeted with individualised rotation and/or curriculum changes as restrictions ease.
In addition to longitudinal coaching, this study draws attention to the need for programmes to adapt effectively and efficiently residents' day-to-day curricula to maximise their learning and their ability to acquire necessary competencies. While some training experiences could be replaced with simulation sessions during the pandemic 9 , workplace-based assessment requires authentic clinical scenarios. Approaches to assessments could be more intentional and clinical experiences purposefully organised to facilitate evidence of achievement of competencies. Many competency-based programs, including ours, use assessment tools that quantify a faculty member's entrustment of the resident in patient care-related tasks. As meaningful supervisortrainee relationships have been shown to increase the likelihood of entrustment 10 The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted anaesthesia residents' clinical experience and their workplace-based assessments intended to support learning. As such, programmes and residents will have to be more deliberate to create a bespoke learner experience.
J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 