Professionalism, ethics, and identity in residency education: evolving in a changing landscape

Background: Assessment in medical education has changed over time to measure the evolving skills required of current medical practice.Physical and biophysical markers of assessment attempt to use technology to gain insight into medical trainees' knowledge, skills, and attitudes.The authors conducted a scoping review to map the literature on the use of physical and biophysical markers of assessment in medical training. Methods:The authors searched seven databases on August 1, 2022, for publications that utilized physical or biophysical markers in the assessment of medical trainees (medical students, residents, fellows, and synonymous terms used in other countries).Physical or biophysical markers included: heart rate and heart rate variability, visual tracking and attention, pupillometry, hand motion analysis, skin conductivity, salivary cortisol, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).The authors mapped the relevant literature using Bloom's taxonomy of knowledge, skills, and attitudes and extracted additional data including study design, study environment, and novice vs. expert differentiation.