David N. Dickter, PhD (Psychology), is the Director, Interprofessional Education Research and Strategic Assessment at Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU). Dr. Dickter leads the development and implementation of assessment tools and evaluation programs for interprofessional education across the University.

Prior to WesternU, Dr. Dickter spent over 20 years creating, developing and validating psychometric assessments (e.g., cognitive ability and skills tests, behavioral interviews, work samples and other competency assessments) to select, retain and develop individuals and teams. This work included developing and validating assessments for a broad range of job classifications. As an applied psychologist with an employment assessment and selection background, Dr. Dickter looks at assessment for the health professions in terms of job analysis, work requirements and competency assessment techniques. From this viewpoint, the challenge in healthcare assessment will be to anticipate what will be required for health care work in the future and determine how to measure it now.

Dr. Dickter is interested in the mechanisms that produce insights for participants in healthcare simulations, as well as the practical aspects of measurement of performance – in particular, maximizing assessment scale utility and validity, and the effect of observer training on the inter-rater reliability of individual and team assessments.

Dr. Dickter earned his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Ohio State University and has published on assessment, outcomes research, and statistical analysis techniques in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He has taught courses on statistical analysis, psychometrics, research methods and applied psychology.