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Educational efficacy of objective structured clinical examination on clinical training of traditional Chinese
Ying-Ling Chen1, Mark C Hou2, Su-Ching Lin3
1Center for Clinical Skill & Information Technology of TCM, Department of Chinese Medicine, Changhua Christian Hospital, 135 Nan-Siao Street, Changhua 500-06, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Education, National Changhua University of Education, No. 1 Jin-De Road, Changhua 500-06, Taiwan.
Objective:
We propose applying objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and discuss the educational efficacy of such examinations regarding the clinical competence of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners.
Design:
TCM OSCEs were implemented for evaluation and instruction from 2011 to 2013. Trainees received feedback from clinician-educators and standardized patients. Trainees' survey data were extracted from post-OSCE questionnaires and interviews to analyze TCM OSCEs.
Results:
Five TCM OSCEs were administered, and the educational backgrounds of the 37 participants were analyzed. According to analysis of the questionnaires, all trainees agreed OSCEs were beneficial. In interviews, trainees expressed appreciation for the direct, real-time feedback during the OSCE and felt it closely resembled actual clinical work. However, the simulation models of OSCEs must be upgraded.
Conclusions:
OSCEs can be used in evaluating, teaching, and certifying TCM clinical competencies to improve the quality of TCM practices. The patient-centered training aspect of TCM OSCEs is particularly helpful for participants.
