Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Introduction: The faculty of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) introduced the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as a tool of assessing medical students in the last decade. In our study, we aimed to assess the perception and acceptance of OSCE among students and to interpret rating of OSCE in relation to other assessment methods.Methodology : A cross-sectional survey using electronic validated questionnaire, was distributed through different methods which included Short Message Service, social media website, and posters. The questionnaire contained various domains about students' perception of OSCE validity and reliability, and rating of OSCE in relation to other assessment methods.Results : Among 246 students who responded to the survey, 52% of them denied that OSCE provided opportunity to learn real life scenarios. Interestingly, more than 80% of students showed concern about inter-evaluator and inter-patient variability as bias factors that could affect their scores. Passing or failing the OSCE was not a true measure of clinical skills as 77% of students admitted.Conclusion : Although OSCE exam is supposed to be standardized and fair to students, our survey raised concerns regarding the conduction of OSCE especially regarding inter-evaluator and inter-patient variability.
Highlights
The faculty of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) introduced the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as a tool of assessing medical students in the last decade
We found that 51.75% of students accessed the questionnaire via Short Message Services (SMS) messages while 46.8% via Facebook website, and only 1% accessed the questionnaire through posters’ barcode
Many studies found that students perceived the OSCE as a stressful method of assessment(Allen et al 1998).The majority of students (86.3%) in our study showed the same perception
Summary
The faculty of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) introduced the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as a tool of assessing medical students in the last decade. We aimed to assess the perception and acceptance of OSCE among students and to interpret rating of OSCE in relation to other assessment methods. The questionnaire contained various domains about students’ perception of OSCE validity and reliability, and rating of OSCE in relation to other assessment methods. Since Harden et al, introduced the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in 1970s as a means of assessing clinical competency by direct observation, it has been used increasingly for both under- and post- graduate students (Chisnall et al 2015). The faculty of medicine at king Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia introduced the OSCE as a tool of assessment for undergraduate medical students. We wanted to interpret students’ rating of an OSCE in relation to other assessment methods like Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Clerkship
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
