Abstract
Abstract Background: The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and Multi Mini Interviews (MMI) are established tools in the repertoire of clinical assessment methods in Schools of Medicine and Health Sciences worldwide. The use of OSCEs facilitates the assessment of psychomotor skills as well as knowledge and attitudes. Identified benefits of OSCE assessment include development of students’ confidence in their clinical skills and preparation for clinical practice. However, a number of challenges exist with the traditional paper methodology, including documentation errors and inadequate student feedback, electronic assessment is therefore new future. Objectives: To explore electronic OSCE delivery and evaluate the benefits of using an electronic OSCE management system. Design: A pilot study was conducted using electronic software in the management of a five station OSCE assessment with a cohort of first year undergraduate medical students delivered over two consecutive years (n=383) in one higher education institution in Ireland. Methods: All OSCE documentation was converted to electronic format. Assessors were trained in the use of the OSCE management software package and laptops were procured to facilitate electronic management of the OSCE assessment. Following the OSCE assessment, assessors were invited to evaluate the experience. Results: Electronic software facilitated the storage and analysis of overall group and individual results thereby offering considerable time savings. Submission of electronic forms was allowed only when fully completed thus removing the potential for missing data. Conclusions: Analysis of results highlights issues around inter-rater reliability and validity of measurement tools. Regression analysis, as a standard setting method, increases fairness of result calculations as compared to static cutoff scores.
Highlights
The Objective Structured Clinical Skills Examination (OSCE) is a well-established method of assessing non-cognitive skills in multi mini interviews and clinical competence in so called Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) among health practitioners or students that apply for a health sciences degree [1]
The aim of this study was to explore the benefits of an online OSCE Management Information System for School of Medicine OSCEs, by means of the analysis of two cohort studies [12,13]. In this cross sectional study we analysed the outcome of a fully fledged electronic administered Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), of two cohorts of students assessing the clinical outcome of the first year MD139 module Medical Professionalism using an in house developed online OSCE Management Information System (OMIS) [12]
The summary results for the 2013-2014 cohort (n=170), as produced by OMIS, demonstrated an overall internal consistency of 0.666, whereby the Cronbach’s Alpha per station varied between 0.426 for the Basic Life Support station and 0.842 for the Vital Signs station
Summary
The Objective Structured Clinical Skills Examination (OSCE) is a well-established method of assessing non-cognitive skills in multi mini interviews and clinical competence in so called OSCEs among health practitioners or students that apply for a health sciences degree [1]. The examination involves students progressing through a series of stations where they are assessed by an examiner with pre-determined marking criteria [3]. In these series of stations either clinical tasks and/or non-cognitive skills for admission interviews are being assessed. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and Multi Mini Interviews (MMI) are established tools in the repertoire of clinical assessment methods in Schools of Medicine and Health Sciences worldwide. A number of challenges exist with the traditional paper methodology, including documentation errors and inadequate student feedback, electronic assessment is new future
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