Using Portfolio in Medical Education: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: The educational landscape of medical courses was transformed by competency based learning, triggering changes in necessities of new and different learning methods and assessment tools. One of these tools was the use of the learning and assessment portfolios. Portfolio is a collection of student work that exhibits the student's efforts, progress and achievements. In medicine, portfolios are used to study critical thinking and self-directed learning during the development from student to the professional and the general practitioners. OBJETIVE: The aim of this review is to answer how and what is the purpose the learning portfolio is applied in medical education METHOD: We performed a systematic search of PUBMED electronic database, from 2011 to 2021, resulting in 740 articles. After the inclusion and the exclusion criteria were applied, we extracted and analyzed information from the selected articles. Descriptive statistical tools were used to characterize the profile of the articles. RESULTS: In total, 48 qualitative studies were included, 75.0%(n=36) about undergraduate and graduate medical students portfolios. The most frequents outcomes were: assessment portfolio and competencies (25.0%), perception, satisfaction and use of portfolio by students (20.8%) and portfolio in reflexive practice and learning self-regulation (18.8%). CONCLUSION: Medical schools, in several countries, use educational portfolio, mostly as an educational tool for undergraduate, graduate (residence) students and, less frequently, for medical professionals for validation or revalidation of diplomas and specialist titles. The main purpose of using portfolios is to draw on student reflection and frequent feedback to assess learning outcomes and the development of skills and competences. The heterogeneity of methods, the lack of control groups and the small number of samples found in articles about the use of the portfolio in Medicine courses were weak points for comparing the outcomes. © FASEB.