Examiner characteristics and interrater reliability in a communication OSCE
Achim Mortsiefer1, André Karger2, Thomas Rotthoff3
1Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Medical Faculty, Institute of General Practice, Werdener Str. 7, 40227 Düsseldorf, Germany.
Patient Education and Counseling
|February 1, 2017
Summary
Examiner gender, profession, and experience significantly impact interrater reliability in communication Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). Training did not affect reliability, suggesting focus on examiner characteristics for better assessment consistency.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education Research
- Communication Skills Assessment
Background:
- Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are crucial for assessing medical students' communication competence.
- Interrater reliability is vital for the validity and fairness of OSCE assessments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify examiner-specific factors influencing interrater reliability in summative communication OSCEs.
- To analyze the association between examiner characteristics and rating concordance.
Main Methods:
- Secondary analysis of 169 pairwise ratings from 19 examiners in 16 dyads.
- Bivariate analysis of interrater reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficients - ICC) against examiner gender, profession, OSCE experience, and training.
- Comparison of ICCs between examiner dyads with varying similarities.
Main Results:
- Higher interrater reliability was observed in dyads with similar gender (ICC=0.76), clinician professions (ICC=0.72), and high OSCE experience (ICC=0.73).
- Conversely, dyads with different genders, mixed professions, or lower/mixed experience showed lower reliability (ICC=0.41-0.56).
- Examiner training did not significantly influence ICCs.
Conclusions:
- Examiner characteristics, particularly gender, profession, and experience, significantly affect rating consistency in communication OSCEs.
- Same-gender dyads and clinician-only dyads demonstrated higher reliability, suggesting potential context specificity or shared professional perspectives.
- Focusing on examiner demographics and experience is recommended for enhancing the reliability of communication skills assessments.
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