Can teaching hospitals use serial formative OSCEs to improve student performance?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) training programs are crucial for assessing and improving interns' clinical competence.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of repeated formative OSCEs over three years is essential for enhancing clinical training in teaching hospitals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if repeated formative OSCEs improve the effectiveness of clinical training.
• To assess if these programs help interns achieve higher scores on national summative OSCEs.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 207 participants: 82 interns with four mock OSCEs and a national OSCE at Cathay General Hospital (CGH), and 125 final-year medical students from Fu-Jen University (FJU) with national OSCEs from 2013-2015.
• Comparison of mean OSCE scores among groups based on medical school, pre-internship OSCE experience, and frequency of mock OSCEs (CGH: 4 mock OSCEs, 30 stations; FJU training hospitals: 1-2 OSCEs annually, 6-12 stations).

Main Results:

• Cumulative mean OSCE scores tended to increase with repeated assessments for CGH-trained students.
• FJU students from Fu-Jen Medical School scored higher than those from foreign medical schools, with significant differences in OSCE2 and OSCE3.
• Students training at CGH achieved significantly higher mean national OSCE scores in 2014 and 2015 compared to students from other hospitals.

Conclusions:

• Serial formative OSCE administration by teaching hospitals significantly enhances student performance on summative OSCEs.
• These programs offer valuable practice opportunities for students to hone clinical skills.
• Faculty benefit from enhanced teaching, assessment, and consensus-building skills through participation in OSCE programs.