Preparing e‐portfolio as an element of online training by clinical chemistry residents in the COVID ‐19 era

Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading rapidly across continents. Social distancing, lockdown, and containment in high-risk areas have been the major strategies of governments across nations to limit the spread of the virus. Medical education has been affected by this outbreak as gatherings are prohibited limiting the scope of in-person training.1 Undergraduate education has mostly shifted online. However, postgraduate education is a competency based program with the focus being on outcome.2 During the pandemic, some residents/postgraduate trainees have been reassigned to the COVID-19 screening program and Intensive care units/ in-patient wards due to shortage of staff. It is, therefore, challenging to continue the residency program online. However, during these unprecedented times, the residency training program needs to be revisited and redesigned to provide a unique experience to the trainees. Portfolios are increasingly used in a variety of ways in post graduate medical education to track learner progress.2, 3 Portfolios have become a valuable tool to meaningfully depict assessment evidence, document student achievements and receive faculty insights. Post graduate course in clinical chemistry is a 3-year course with the requirement of submission of a dissertation. Portfolios were initially introduced in medical education for formative assessment.4 However, portfolios are also evaluated for summative assessment.5