Evaluation Of Clinical Skills Research Articles

Communication skills scores of medical students and interview performance 3 years later

Objective: Communication skills are important, but the evaluation of these skills in the medical curriculum remains inconsistent. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the communication skills scores of junior medical students following curricula with different module evaluations and the clinical interview performance of the same students in a psychiatry department in their fifth year. Design: Prospective evaluation of communication and clinical interview skills. Setting: Medical school and psychiatry department inpatient setting. Method: The communication skills scores of 208 medical students in their second year (between 2009 and 2011) and their performance in interviews with patients in a psychiatry department in their fifth year (between 2012 and 2014) were assessed. Initial assessment was undertaken on the basis of problem-based learning (PBL) performance, evaluation of performance during conversation with patients, a related oral presentation and written report, students’ self-rating and a peer rating. Extra marks were given if students completed an optional special report inspired by the curriculum. To assess the interview performance of fifth-year medical students, the mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) was used, together with weekly case-based discussions and the observation of a clinical interview with a real patient. Results: Tutors’ evaluations of the junior medical students’ performance during role-play ( ρ = .22, p = .001), its related reciprocal assessment ( ρ = .18, p = .010) and an extra-effort task ( ρ = .18, p = .009) as part of the communication skills curriculum were significantly correlated with the students’ later performance in a clinical interview with a patient. Conclusion: Observation of student interactions and motivations along with reciprocal peer evaluations offer better measures of communication skills in medical education than are oral presentations, self-ratings and conversations with real patients.

Description and Early Outcomes of a Comprehensive Curriculum Redesign at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

In 2012, the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine launched a redesigned curriculum addressing the four primary recommendations in the 2010 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report on reforming medical education. This new curriculum provides a more standardized evaluation of students' competency achievement through a robust portfolio review process coupled with standard evaluations of medical knowledge and clinical skills. It individualizes learning processes through curriculum flexibility, enabling students to take electives earlier and complete clerkships in their preferred order. The new curriculum is integrated both horizontally and vertically, combining disciplines within organ-based modules and deliberately linking elements (science in medicine, clinical medicine, health and society, professional development) and threads (medical decision making, quality and safety, teamwork and leadership, lifestyle medicine, advocacy and equity) across the three phases that replaced the traditional four-year timeline. It encourages students to conduct research in an area of interest and commit to lifelong learning and self-improvement. The curriculum formalizes the process of professional identity formation and requires students to reflect on their experiences with the informal and hidden curricula, which strongly shape their identities.The authors describe the new curriculum structure, explain their approach to each Carnegie report recommendation, describe early outcomes and challenges, and propose areas for further work. Early data from the first cohort to progress through the curriculum show unchanged United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and 2 scores, enhanced student research engagement and career exploration, and improved student confidence in the patient care and professional development domains.

Students Evaluation of an Observed Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) in Community Health Nursing Clinical Practice

Innovation in community health nursing practices required skill full competent nurse in order to provide comprehensive care for promotion of health and prevention of illness in the public health sector. The speed innovation in nursing practice is not at a fast enough speed to accommodate the enormous global challenges facing nursing's future. Innovation in evaluation method will improve quality of nursing practices which will be help full to achieve professional competency. Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a multi-system examination using real or simulated patients to evaluate clinical skills, attitudes and cognitive abilities. It demonstrated reliability and validity for assessing clinical performance. It is a powerful innovative tool in the evaluation of clinical competence in nursing and that it may also be an effective facilitator for learning to perform clinical skills in nursing to achieve professional competency. So this study was conducted to assess student's evaluation of an Observed Structured clinical evaluation (OSCE) examination in community health nursing practices in a selected college of nursing of Pune city. A descriptive exploratory design and Nonprobability convenience sampling technique was used. Sample size was 25. Students have evaluated structure, content, organization, quality, validity and reliability of an OSCE with the use of a modified Pierre et al. (2004) OSCE evaluation questionnaire tool. Findings shows that OSCE is a fair examination method (100%) and 80% of them felt that it provides a true measure of essential clinical skills without biasness which minimized their chances of failing. Most of them (80%) also agreed that the assessment process with checklist helped to identify weaknesses and gaps in their competencies. (60%) of them found that OSCE is fearless and not stress full. This study finding shows that student's acceptability of an OSCE as an effective tool to assess student's clinical competency level. Students evaluated that OSCE is fair and transparent, valid, fearless, stress less process to assess clinical competencies of nursing students through formative and summative evaluation in community health nursing practices. OSCE can be evaluated as a standardized method clinical skill evaluation which can be used in a combination with traditional (current) method. So that expected competency level of nursing student in community health nursing clinical practice will be achieved.

Assessing the clinical skills of interns and stagers in the department of obstetrics and gynecology using Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) method and satisfaction level of learners and examiners

Background and Objectives: Evaluation of clinical skills of intern and stager students is one of the most important tasks of clinical faculty members. One of the methods of assessment is direct observation of procedural skills. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical skills of interns and stagers in department of obstetrics and gynecology using the Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) method. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. 60 interns and stagers of the department of obstetrics and gynecology were selected by census method. According to the opinions of faculty members of medical universities, among the main procedures of women's departments, 11 procedures were selected for testing materials and a checklist for their evaluation was prepared. The student was observed by the examiner during the procedure in the actual work environment and the results were recorded according to a structured checklist and presented in an objective setting environment. The content validity of the checklist was approved by faculty members of obstetrics and gynecology. Reliability was calculated as 85% based on Cronbach's alpha. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 18 and Chi-square and independent t-test were used at a significance level of 0.05. Results: A total of 60 students in the department of obstetrics and gynecology were evaluated by this method. The evaluation indicators were as expected in most cases at all stations. The highest expected and above expected cases were related to communication skills and requesting assistance if needed; while most below expected cases were related to knowledge of the indications, anatomy, and procedure’s techniques. The most disadvantage mentioned by the students was the technical ability and the most advantage was requesting help if needed. There was a significant difference between the mean score of satisfaction in learners (5.3 ± 2.92) and the mean score of satisfaction in the examiners (8.85 ± 0.93) (p> 0.05). Conclusion: Due to the higher than expected value of students' clinical skills, the use of this method is not only an incentive for learning but also because the method and content of the test are directly related to clinical performance, it can direct efforts to learning.

Post clinical clerkship-OSCE を見据えた歯周病科での模擬OSCE の概要

Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is widely used for assessment of clinical skills in dental education. In dental schools in Japan, the OSCE has been implemented to guarantee the student's clinical skills before their clinical training. Whereas it has been discussed and recognized recently that evaluation of student's clinical skills at the time of their post-clinical training is very important, called as Post-clinical clerkship OSCE (PCC-OSCE), however, the examination tasks are undecided yet. The purpose of this our trial was to learn the validity, objectivity, feasibility, and acceptability of the PCC-OSCE to the students or faculty aside from gaining the experience in OSCE. The examination task was explaining of the treatment plan to the patients with severe periodontitis for the simulated OSCE, and the clinical skills of 32 students during clinical training (male, N=20; female, N=12) were evaluated by 2 evaluators. The raw score between 2 evaluators was analyzed statistically (r=0.85, P<0.001, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient). Average score rate of all students was 51.2 % and we felt that the score was relatively low. Although the quality of our education system for periodontology is difficult to discuss from these results, development of the PCC-OSCE and the findings described in this paper will be of value to clinical staff who are developing PCC-OSCE in Tokushima University Dental School.

Analysis of communication skills of primary nurses with different characteristics and their affecting factors

Objective To explore the communication skills of primary nurses with different characteristics and their affecting factors, and to provide a theoretical basis to communication training for clinical nurses. Methods Totally 90 primary nurses working in Chancheng Hospital Affiliated to The First People's Hospital of Foshan between 2013 and 2015 were selected by convenience sampling and investigated with clinical communication skills evaluation questionnaires, with affecting factors behind analyzed. Results The primary nurses scored (3.05±0.95) for keen listening, (3.02±0.63) for feelings validation, (2.93±0.25) for participation, (2.61±0.02) for delivering effective messages, (2.39±0.51) for establishing harmonious relationship and (2.30±3.26) for identifying patients' problems. According to the multiple regression analysis, working years, job title, duty, and communication training were predictive variables that affect nurses' clinical communication skills, which accounted for 32.0% of their communication skills. Conclusions Primary nurses' clinical communication skills need enhancing. Hence, nurses should be well trained at different levels to improve the effect of training. Key words: Primary nurse; Communication skill; Different characteristics

Multicenter validation of an evaluation tool for clinical training activities (SVAT) of the nursing students

To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Scheda di Valutazione delle Attività di Tirocinio (SVAT). The degree courses in Nursing of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, site of Reggio Emilia, the University of Bologna Formative Section BO1, Imola and training center of Cesena, the University of Ferrara training centers of Ferrara and Codigoro were all enrolled in the research. For the content validation the reactive Delphi method was chosen. The panel of experts expressed a qualitative-intuitive judgment on the adequacy of language and on the stimulus material (SVAT). For internal consistency Cronbach's alpha was calculated the. The test-retest method was used for the reliability of stability. all indicators of the SVAT have achieved a degree of consensus not less than 80% demonstrating its content validity. The face validity is demonstrated by an average score equal to or greater than 7 obtained by all indicators. The reliability of internal consistency of the SVAT was appraised by Cronbach's alpha that was 0.987 for the entire instrument. The reliability of the stability has been calculated through the correlation's coefficient expressed by Pearson's r that was 0.983 (p = 1.3E-198). in Italy there is no a "gold standard" tool to evaluate the clinical performance of nursing students during and at the end of their clinical training. The SVAT proves to be a valuable and reliable tool it furthermore could stimulate the discussion and the debate among educators and nurses, so that also in our country, it may be possible develop and refine tools that support the evaluation of clinical skills of nursing students.

Creation and Analysis of a Comprehensive, Formalized Approach to Neurology Resident Clinical Skills Evaluation: Year 1 Feasibility Data (P2.358)

Creation and Analysis of a Comprehensive, Formalized Approach to Neurology Resident Clinical Skills Evaluation: Year 1 Feasibility Data (P2.358)

The aging anesthesiologist

The average age of anesthesiologists in the USA is increasing. Advancing age is accompanied by challenges and opportunities to the individual anesthesiologist and his/her colleagues. This article will discuss the science behind policies to assure continued competence among these aging physicians and safety for their patients. There is growing evidence that aging anesthesiologists may be advantaged by a lifetime of experience but possibly disadvantaged under certain circumstances by lapses in current medical knowledge contributing to medical errors. Policies and procedures are emerging to assist in evaluating the continued competence of aging physicians. The average age of practicing anesthesiologists in the USA is increasing. As physicians continue to practice into later years, it is critical that innovative continuing medical education programs and objective evaluations of clinical skills and competence focused upon this group continue to be developed to assure public safety.

Effectiveness of objective structured practical examination as a formative assessment tool as compared to traditional method for M. B. B. S students

Background: Most of medical colleges in India follow Traditional Practical Examination for evaluation of practical or clinical skills wherein students are assessed only for knowledge and not for attitude and skill. Traditional methods have several flaws like inter-examiner marks variation, examiners subjectivity, varying difficulty level of different experiments, etc. which prevents uniform marking. These flaws could be minimized by newer methods like OSPE. Objective of the study was to know the effectiveness of objective structured practical examination (O.S.P.E) as a formative assessment tool as compared to traditional methods for M.B.B.S students and to know the perception of participating students and faculties towards OSPE. Methods: A cross sectional comparative study was carried out on 63 MBBS students. Students were subjected to Traditional Practical Examination followed by OSPE. Mean marks for all students were calculated by both the methods. A Likert’s scale based questionnaire on OSPE was distributed among the students and faculties to know their views and perceptions towards OSPE. The results were analysed by SPSS version 20.0. Results: Average marks scored by the students in OSPE (18.74±4.395) were higher as compared to Traditional Practical Examination (13.81±3.814) which was statistically significant. 74.4% of the students and 65.4% faculties strongly agreed that OSPE is fairer in comparison to Traditional Practical Examination. 90.5% students strongly agreed that variability of examiner & patient can be removed to a large extent by OSPE. Conclusions: OSPE was found to be a more effective assessment tool than traditional method. As regards perception, both students and faculties strongly agreed that OSPE is fairer assessment tool compared to traditional practical examination.

Contents of supervision needed by physical and occupational therapists for ability development: focusing on their clinical experience.

[Purpose] This study examined the contents of supervision needed by novice therapists to develop clinical abilities, focusing on their clinical experience and using an original evaluation table. [Subjects and Methods] An evaluation of clinical abilities basic attitudes, therapeutic skills, and clinical practice-related thoughts was conducted in 29, 21, and 9 therapists with clinical experience of 0–1 (1 year group), 1–2 (2 years group), and 2–3 (3 years group) years, respectively. [Results] There were no significant differences among the 3 groups in basic attitudes. Therapeutic skills markedly varied between the 1 and 3 years groups. In clinical practice-related thoughts, significant differences were observed between the 1 and 3 years groups and between the 2 and 3 years groups. [Conclusion] It may be appropriate for educators to provide technical education regarding skills that are achievable for students in the early stages in consideration of applied movements. Also, education for novices should be provided with importance attached to abilities influenced by clinical experience.

Relationship Between Nursing Students’ Emotional Intelligence and Their Clinical Performance During Obstetrics and Gynaecologic Nursing Practical Training

Nursing and midwifery are stressful professions due to the requirements of patients’ care. They require a high degree of self-regulation and emotional intelligence (EI). The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between nursing students' EI and their clinical performance during obstetrics and gynecologic nursing practical training. A descriptive correlational research design was utilized. The study was conducted at the faculty of nursing, Benha University. A convenience sample of all third year female students (N=98) who were registered at reproductive health nursing course at the time of study was included. Two tools were used for data collection; first tool is a structured interview schedule to collect data about the subjects' demographic characteristics and the Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test. Second tool for clinical performance evaluation it composed of performance checklist for different obstetrics and gynecologic nursing procedures and evaluation of supportive clinical performance skills. There was a positive correlation (p&lt;0.05) between students' EI and their total clinical performance skills. On the other hand, there was no statistically significant relation (p&gt;0.05) between students EI and their demographic characteristics. It can be concluded that there was a significant positive correlation between students' EI and their clinical performance skills. The topic of EI should be included as a basic component of nursing curriculum in order to develop students’ EI abilities. Furthermore, Training courses and seminars about EI should be conducted for the nursing educators in order to develop and improve their own and students’ EI skills.

Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in pharmacy education - a trend

Pharmacy education has undergone a radical change as it evolves towards becoming a more patient oriented profession. With a greater emphasis on problem based teaching and competency, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), supported by its reliability and validity became the gold standard for the evaluation of clinical skills of undergraduate students of medicine and pharmacy worldwide. Core competency evaluation has become a mandatory and critical norm for accountability of educational objectives as the traditional testing tools cannot evaluate clinical competence. Interpersonal and communication skills, professional judgment, skills of resolution etc., may be best assessed through a well- structured OSCE in comparison to oral examinations, multiple choice tests and other methods of assessment. Though OSCEs as an objective method of evaluation offer several advantages to both students and teachers, it also has disadvantages and pitfalls in implementation. This article reviews the OSCE as a trend in pharmacy education.

Comparing the outcomes of different postgraduate year training programs in Taiwan

BackgroundPostgraduate year training programs play an important role in the development of a comprehensive medical education. The goal of these training programs is to inculcate in physicians the expected level of skill in patient care. After the initiation of such programs in the USA, Europe, and Japan, studies were conducted in Taiwan to investigate relevant training methods, and a training system was established in 2003. Beginning with 3-month programs, followed by 6-month programs, the programs were constantly modified and enhanced by the establishment of the 1-year training program in 2011. This year was the transition period from the 6-month programs to the 1-year programs. MethodsWe used a 50-item multiple choice question (MCQ) test and six 10-min stations for objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), which was composed of four stations relating to standardized patients and two stations concerning the clinical skill evaluation, to evaluate the learning results of the trainees. The trainees were divided into four groups according to the training program. ResultsThere was no significant difference between the performance of the 6 months and 1-year groups. The p values were 0.424 in the MCQ test and 0.082 in the OSCE evaluation. ConclusionA well-designed postgraduate training program should develop trainees’ competencies. The results of this study may provide useful insight for ways to improve the design of training programs. Further investigation to better understand the impact of different programs is warranted.

Reform clinical skill training model to improve performance of objective structured clinical examination

Objective To improve the mode of clinical medicine postgraduates for specialty degree by OSCE. Methods Clinical medicine postgraduates for specialty degree of Grade 2010 and 2011 were enrolled as research objects. The OSCE scores of the students of Grade 2010 were analyzed and the problems in clinical skills training were summarized. In the last year of clinical training for the clinical medical students of Grade 2011, the reform of clinical skills training was implemented with such improvement measures as publishing last year achievement, analyzing OSCE assessment, strength-ening the supervision of the department of clinical skill training, strengthening the examination as-sessment efforts and organizing collective training. And finally the OSCE scores of the students of Grade 2011 were compared with the scores of the students of Grade 2010. SPSS 19.0 was used to analyze the OSCE scores. Quantitative data were expressed as ±s. T test and Chi-squared test were em-ployed to do statistical analysis, with the inspection level of α=0.05. Result The graduate exami-nation OSCE scores of clinical medicine professional master's degree postgraduates of Grade 2010 display that the failure rate of SP, Physical, Surgical Operation, CPR and Case analysis are more than 5%. After the improvement of clinical skill training, using independent samples t test and chi square test, and contrasting grade 2010, the failure rate of the OSCE score of Grade 2011 in physical examination, surgical operation, site emergency station, CPR station, and case analysis station is significantly improved (P<0.05). Conclusions Improving the mode of clinical skill training by OSCE and performance analysis can effectively enhance clinical competence. Key words: Objective structured clinical examination; Clinical skill evaluation; Graduation examination

Evaluation of Clinical and Communication Skills of Pharmacy Students and Pharmacists with an Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Objective. To evaluate how effectively pharmacy students and practicing pharmacists communicate and apply knowledge to simulations of commonly encountered patient scenarios using an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Design. Second-, third-, and fourth-year pharmacy students completed an OSCE as part of their required courses in 2012 and 2013. All students in both years completed identical OSCE cases. Licensed pharmacists were recruited to complete the OSCE and serve as controls in 2012. A survey assessed student perception and acceptance of the OSCE as well as student confidence in performance. Assessment. Licensed pharmacists had significantly higher clinical and communication skills scores than did pharmacy students. Student progression in communication and clinical skills improved significantly over time. Survey results indicated that students felt the OSCE was well-structured and assessed clinical skills taught in pharmacy school; 86% of students felt confident they could provide these skills. Conclusion. Objective structured clinical examinations can evaluate clinical competence and communication skills among professional students. Implementation of OSCEs may be an effective tool for assessment of the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education domains.

TF1 “From Head To Toe!” Developing Competency in Adult Trauma Resuscitations

At our institution, trauma is run through a combined cooperative of the emergency medicine (EM) and surgical residency programs. A formal curriculum is currently lacking for the PGY1 EM residents rotating on this service, who are then expected to become proficient team leaders in combined resuscitations. Competency is defined as the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. ACGME currently requires that residents demonstrate “competency in adult trauma resuscitations” as a key index procedure prior to graduation. Therefore, the primary learners are first year residents rotating through the trauma service to these introduce concepts early. The curriculum will also be available to surgical residents as secondary learners if desired. The primary goal is for the learner to achieve competency in adult trauma resuscitations: by identifying injuries, perceiving when life-saving interventions are required and acting upon it. The secondary objective is to evaluate if initiating this curriculum will have an impact on in-training exam (ITE) scores in the trauma subcategory. This curriculum is designed as a self-guided, self-paced instructional system based in a modular asynchronous format. The entire curriculum will be available using Google Classroom. Each learner will perform a pre-test assessment prior to initiating the curriculum; administration will have the ability to review. This will allow our program to monitor the learner’s progress. The modules use interactive power point presentations using a visual diagnosis theme. The educational content is derived from both written emergency medicine and trauma texts as well as published on-line FOAM Ed (Free Open Access Medical Education). These FOAM Ed resources encompass evidence-based Web sites, emergency medicine specific training Web sites, and You Tube videos produced specifically for education. Each module will include self-assessment questions with answers provided and at the end of the rotation, each resident will receive a direct clinical skills evaluation using a provided checklist during a live trauma resuscitation. Using multiple assessment techniques will provide the resident with a well-rounded evaluation of their performance early in residency. To evaluate the impact of the curriculum, ITE scores before and after initiation will be compared. It is essential for emergency medicine residents to have competency in adult trauma resuscitations for daily use as a well-rounded physician. As junior residents, they are placed on a designated trauma service for 4 weeks and therefore, a self-guided modular curriculum allowing them to work at their own pace while participating in resuscitations on a daily basis will not only introduce the material, but also aid in retention and hopefully in reproduction as senior residents.

Bridging the Gap between Knowledge and Skill: Integrating Standardized Patients into Bioethics Education.

AbstractUpon entering the examination room, Caitlyn encounters a woman sitting alone and in distress. Caitlyn introduces herself as the hospital ethicist and tells the woman, Mrs. Dennis, that her aim is to help her reach a decision about whether to perform an autopsy on her recently deceased husband. Mrs. Dennis begins the encounter by telling the ethicist that she has to decide quickly, but that she is very torn about what to do. Mrs. Dennis adds, “My sons disagree about the autopsy.” As a standardized patient (SP), a specialized actor, the woman playing Mrs. Dennis has already delivered the same opening lines several times to different learners practicing their clinical ethics consultation skills.An SP encounter is a simulated patient encounter used for educational purposes that requires the standardization of verbal and behavioral responses. In the encounter, the simulator, or “patient,” uses a scripted medical history to enable the learner to employ a certain skill, say, the ability to perform a neurological exam. The use of standardized patients in the evaluation of clinical skills has become a staple in medical education. To tackle the challenge of teaching clinical ethics consultation skills, we have incorporated SP encounters into the curriculum of the Bioethics Program of The Union Graduate College and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. SP encounters are incorporated into one of our onsite classes, the Onsite Clinical Ethics Practicum, and they are part of the capstone examination, which all of our graduates must complete successfully. The inclusion of simulated encounters into the curriculum is one way in which we equip our students with the core competencies specified by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Task Force for clinical ethicists.

The application of computer network scoring system in national clinical skills competition

The clinical skills competitions for national medical students in China have been well organized for five times. Experience has been accumulated, and much has been emphasized on the low assessment efficacy throughout the competitions. However, few solutions has been brought about to conquer such problem. This article mainly focused on introducing a computerized clinical skill assessment system based on current clinical skills competition assessment. The system realizes functions such as team management, online marking, score calculation, data analysis, and real-time result presentation. Such appliance of computer, internet and information technology on conventional clinical skills evaluation could hopefully replace the traditional manual calculating procedures, improving the efficiency of the future competitions, to ensure their openness, impartiality, and equitability, as well as to deliver observatory appeal among audience. Key words: Paperless; Computer networking; Assessment system; National clinical skills competition

The validity and reliability of the sixth-year internal medical examination administered at the King Abdulaziz University Medical College.

BackgroundExams are essential components of medical students’ knowledge and skill assessment during their clinical years of study. The paper provides a retrospective analysis of validity evidence for the internal medicine component of the written and clinical exams administered in 2012 and 2013 at King Abdulaziz University’s Faculty of Medicine.MethodsStudents’ scores for the clinical and written exams were obtained. Four faculty members (two senior members and two junior members) were asked to rate the exam questions, including MCQs and OSCEs, for evidence of content validity using a rating scale of 1–5 for each item.Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the internal consistency reliability. Correlations were used to examine the associations between different forms of assessment and groups of students.ResultsA total of 824 students completed the internal medicine course and took the exam. The numbers of rated questions were 320 and 46 for the MCQ and OSCE, respectively. Significant correlations were found between the MCQ section, the OSCE section, and the continuous assessment marks, which include 20 long-case presentations during the course; participation in daily rounds, clinical sessions and tutorials; the performance of simple procedures, such as IV cannulation and ABG extraction; and the student log book.Although the OSCE exam was reliable for the two groups that had taken the final clinical OSCE, the clinical long- and short-case exams were not reliable across the two groups that had taken the oral clinical exams. The correlation analysis showed a significant linear association between the raters with respect to evidence of content validity for both the MCQ and OSCE, r = .219 P < .001 and r = .678 P < .001, respectively, and r = .241 P < .001 and r = .368 P = .023 for the internal structure validity, respectively. Reliability measured using Cronbach’s alpha was greater for assessments administered in 2013.ConclusionThe pattern of relationships between the MCQ and OSCE scores provides evidence of the validity of these measures for use in the evaluation of knowledge and clinical skills in internal medicine. The OSCE exam is more reliable than the short- and long-case clinical exams and requires less effort on the part of examiners and patients.