Assessment of technical skills: best practices

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Education
• Assessment Methods
• Clinical Skills Evaluation

Background:

• Effective assessment is crucial in veterinary education for setting standards, guiding learning, and ensuring public trust in veterinarian competence.
• Assessing complex skills, particularly behaviors and attitudes, presents significant challenges in veterinary training.
• Traditional assessment methods often lack the reliability and objectivity needed for complex skill evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role and limitations of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) in veterinary education.
• To discuss the introduction and application of the Objective Structured Practical Veterinary Examination (OSPVE) in veterinary training.
• To identify areas for improvement in veterinary assessment, including behavioral and attitudinal domains.

Main Methods:

• Review of assessment strategies in veterinary education, focusing on Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) and Objective Structured Practical Veterinary Examinations (OSPVE).
• Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of OSPVE in assessing technical skills and procedural competence.
• Exploration of complementary assessment tools like mini-Clinical Examinations, Direct Observation of Procedural Skills, and multi-source feedback.

Main Results:

• Objective Structured Practical Veterinary Examinations (OSPVE) enhance the reliability of assessing isolated techniques and procedures compared to subjective methods.
• OSPVE has been implemented in veterinary education since 2004, demonstrating its utility in practical skills assessment.
• A key limitation of OSPVE is the testing of skills out of their clinical context, necessitating further assessment development.

Conclusions:

• No single assessment format can comprehensively evaluate all essential veterinary competencies.
• Further development of structured clinical assessments and multi-source feedback (including client feedback) is recommended to address limitations in evaluating behaviors, attitudes, and communication skills.
• Integrating various assessment methods is essential for a holistic and valid evaluation of veterinary professional competence.