How we give personalised audio feedback after summative OSCEs

Students often receive little feedback after summative objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) to enable them to improve their performance. Electronic audio feedback has shown promise in other educational areas.

We investigated the feasibility of electronic audio feedback in OSCEs.

An electronic OSCE system was designed, comprising (1) an application for iPads allowing examiners to mark in the key consultation skill domains, provide "tick-box" feedback identifying strengths and difficulties, and record voice feedback; (2) a feedback website giving students the opportunity to view/listen in multiple ways to the feedback. Acceptability of the audio feedback was investigated, using focus groups with students and questionnaires with both examiners and students.

87 (95%) students accessed the examiners' audio comments; 83 (90%) found the comments useful and 63 (68%) reported changing the way they perform a skill as a result of the audio feedback. They valued its highly personalised, relevant nature and found it much more useful than written feedback. Eighty-nine per cent of examiners gave audio feedback to all students on their stations. Although many found the method easy, lack of time was a factor.

Electronic audio feedback provides timely, personalised feedback to students after a summative OSCE provided enough time is allocated to the process.