Emergent transition to remote learning: Impact on student performance for real-time comprehensive case simulations

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Online Learning
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid transition from in-person to remote learning in academic institutions.
• Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are crucial for evaluating clinical skills.
• The impact of this emergent transition on OSCE performance was previously unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of the sudden shift to remote learning on student performance in real-time OSCEs.
• To compare virtual OSCE outcomes with traditional in-person OSCE results.

Main Methods:

• A third-year internal medicine elective course transitioned to remote learning in Spring 2020 due to COVID-19.
• Six weekly OSCEs, constituting 55% of the course grade, were adapted for virtual delivery.
• Performance data from five virtual OSCEs in 2020 were compared to in-person OSCEs from 2019.

Main Results:

• No significant difference was found in overall average OSCE performance between the 2019 (in-person) and 2020 (remote) cohorts (82.7% vs. 86.8%, P=.20).
• Specific modules showed varied results: infectious diseases and anticoagulation favored the remote cohort, while cardiology favored the in-person cohort.
• Overall course grades and performance on cumulative OSCE simulations did not differ significantly between the two cohorts.

Conclusions:

• Emergent transitions to remote learning formats do not necessarily hinder student performance in real-time OSCEs.
• Medical education can adapt clinical skills assessments to virtual environments without compromising evaluation integrity.
• This study suggests the feasibility of maintaining robust clinical skills assessment during disruptions.