Assessing psychiatric competencies: what does the literature tell us about methods of workplace-based assessment?

Workplace-based assessment (WPBA) is becoming a key component of post-graduate medical training in several countries. The various methods of WPBA include: the long case; multisource feedback (MSF); Mini-Clinical Examination (mini-CEX); Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS); case-based discussion (CbD); and journal club presentation. For each assessment method, we define what the approach practically involves, then consider the key messages and research evidence from the literature regarding their reliability, validity and general usefulness.