Abstract
Objective:Ensuring competence in communication skills amongst trainees is essential in health professions education. Involving faculty members for the same is a challenge in Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) due to their clinical commitments. The present study compares scores of OBGYN faculty, non-OBGYN faculty and simulated patients (SPs) on communication skills of postgraduate trainees during formative Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).Methods:This is a psychometric study conducted in Feburary 2017 at the Aga Khan University Medical College (AKU-MC). All thirty-two postgraduate trainees of OBGYN gave consent. Each trainee was assessed by OBGYN faculty, non-OBGYN faculty and SP on communication skills at six stations using nine-point itemized rating-scale during formative OBGYN OSCE. The scores were reviewed using descriptive statistics, reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha and inter-rater reliability was analyzed using Pearson correlation and intra-class correlation coefficient.Results:The score reliability of each of the examiners was >0.7. The mean scores showed that OBGYN faculty were most stringent while SPs were lenient examiners, however, non-OBGYN faculty scored in between. The inter-rater reliability among any two of the OBGYN, non-OBGYN and SP examiner was >0.84 using Pearson correlation and >0.9 using intra-class correlation.Conclusion:The SPs and non-OBGYN clinical faculty can also be used to assess communication and counseling skills on OBGYN OSCEs after required training as examiners.
Highlights
Communication skill is one of the essential competency in health professions.[1]
All 32 trainees appeared in the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)
Twenty-five were FCPS part-2 trainees while remaining were MCPS trainees. Their mean age was 26 years (SD±2). Their clinical experiences ranged between one to five years.The trainees were assessed by three examiners on each station, that is, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) faculty, non-OBGYN faculty and an simulated patients (SPs)
Summary
Communication skill is one of the essential competency in health professions.[1]. This is an integral part of the graduate curriculum in the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education, General Medical Council and Liaison Committee on Medical Education.[2,3,4] The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan include communication skill as one of the fundamental competency in postgraduate training.[5]. The students recognize communication skill as an essential skill that should be taught during training.[8]
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