A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professions Education brings together scholars from across the globe annually in April. To better highlight our community, we decided to profile a number of our recent scholars. In this blog post, we interview Sara Arter PhD, RN, an assistant professor of nursing at Miami University.
Harvard Macy Institute: How would you describe your personal and professional background?
I am an assistant professor at Miami University of Ohio in the Department of Nursing. I focus on mitigating the effects of the opioid epidemic on families through policy and innovative education and research. I am in the 2023-2025 cohort for the Macy Faculty Scholars Program, and with this opportunity, I am creating and testing an educational intervention to support nursing students’ ability to examine the influence of personal values and development of ethical decision-making while providing care to mothers with substance use disorder and their children.
Harvard Macy Institute: What led you to apply to our A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professions Education program?
Nursing programs accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education are shifting to competency-based curricula. I am a part of the effort at my home institution to revamp our curricula. I recognized a need to learn more about assessment within competency-based education to appropriately evaluate whether students have developed the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for practice. I found invaluable support through this course, as it provided the educational theory and tools needed to implement a competency-based curriculum.
Harvard Macy Institute: How would you describe your overall experience in this program?
My experience was incredible! I was amazed that such a large amount of learning could occur in a week. This is not a passive course. Rather, most sessions are set up for interaction. I appreciated the active learning approach, as it required me to apply new concepts to a specific project. We were assigned to small project groups, within which each scholar presented an educational project and received feedback every day. This daily meeting kept us accountable for progression and allowed for multiple and diverse perspectives on how to approach the project. A supportive network of peers naturally developed throughout the week. Through this network, I was able to learn from other health care professionals about their experiences with competency-based education.
Harvard Macy Institute: How do you think this program is applicable to your profession?
Current emphasis on competency-based education reflects a broader shift towards outcomes achievement. Traditional assessment often relies on quantitative measures, such as numeric grades, which alone may not holistically capture a student’s proficiency in real-world settings. Competency-based assessment, on the other hand, focuses on evaluating learners’ abilities to perform specific tasks essential for professional practice. A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professions Education course complements guidance that has been provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing for nurse educators navigating the transition towards competency-based education. By using a system thinking approach, integrating educational theory, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this course provided the resources and mentorship necessary to design and implement effective assessment strategies that align with the evolving needs of nursing education.
Harvard Macy Institute: What were the two most important takeaways that you gained from the program?
There were so many important takeaways! The most important for me was an introduction to tools already used in other health professions education to assess the achievement of competencies and to develop a plan of assessment across a program. This will be incredibly helpful as we transition to a competency-based curriculum in nursing, knowing that we do not have to recreate every wheel. My second important takeaway was learning to ensure equity in assessment through attention to validity, consistency, transparency, and equivalence. It was eye-opening to learn about the snowball effect that minor differences in assessment outcomes can have on career opportunities. I am grateful that I can now share these key takeaways with my colleagues so we can work to eliminate assessment inequities in nursing education.
Harvard Macy Institute: How do you feel this program is different than other continuing medical education or professional development programs you have taken?
In the last few years, I have signed up for several conferences and webinars related to implementing competency-based education. While I gained some clarity from each one, A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professions Education course provided the most valuable learning related to this topic. This course provided the tools needed for implementation, including frameworks for assessment to ensure learners are truly prepared for practice, as assessed by multiple individuals in multiple environments. Another beneficial aspect of this course was reviewing the literature related to the quantity of assessments needed to determine competency achievement, one aspect to which I had not yet given any thought.
Harvard Macy Institute: Would you recommend A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Professions Education to a colleague? If so, why?
Yes, this course would be extremely valuable and timely for any health professions educator involved in transitioning to a competency-based curriculum. Participation in this course offered a comprehensive set of tools and theories to guide this work. It also provided a chance to engage one-on-one with field leaders, which was helpful in applying course learning to my project.
Sara Arter, PhD, RN (Systems ’24) is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Miami University. Sara’s areas of professional interest include nursing education, health policy, and child health outcomes. Sara can be followed on Linkedin or contacted via email.
HMI Staff
