Apply the data collection skills you have refined in practice to the summative evaluation process.  Be guided by the objectives you and the student have established and the course objectives and evaluation criteria which the faculty supply.  Collect objective and subjective data that give evidence of the student's performance in relation to the evaluation framework.

To supplement your subjective data collection, apply the concept of 360⁰ evaluation.  The 360⁰ evaluation approach takes into account the perspective of all persons with whom the subject of performance valuation interacts.  Visualize the student at the center of a circle, surrounded by the persons with whom he or she interacts during the practicum:  patients, patients' significant others, physicians, other health professionals, support staff, and others.  Obviously, it would not be practical or appropriate to collect formal ratings or testimonials from these persons.  However, the perceptions of others can provide useful data.

If you ask how the student is doing, you probably will not obtain much more than "She did okay," or "He did a great job."  Or someone may say, "Good, considering she's just learning."  Most people sympathize with the student role, or feel reluctant to offer criticism.  You will obtain more useful feedback if you ask open-ended questions based on objectives, or based on perceptions of your own for which you are seeking validation.  For example, you observe that the student sometimes fails to explain self-care thoroughly, or validate that the patient has understood instructions.  Ask the patient what instructions the student gave and how the patient plans to follow them.  When collecting data from colleagues, refer to a specific situation and ask a general question.  For example, you might ask a physician colleague for feedback by saying, "Sally told me that she went over Mr. Jones' medications with you.  How did that go?"

Perceptions of others can guide your observations toward particular aspects of the student's practice.  In this way you can validate the perceptions of others.  When reporting another's perceptions to the student or faculty member identify the source (at least as "a patient," or "a colleague")