Zoom Objective Structured Clinical Exams: Virtually the Same as the Real Thing?

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Skills Assessment
• Communication Skills Training

Background:

• Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCE) are crucial for training and evaluating resident communication skills.
• In 2020, OSCE encounters were adapted to a virtual format (VOSCE) due to external circumstances.
• The study addresses the need to compare assessment effectiveness between traditional OSCE and VOSCE.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the assessment of foundational family-centered communication skills using standardized patients (SP) and family faculty (FF).
• To evaluate these skills across both live OSCE and virtual OSCE (VOSCE) formats.

Main Methods:

• Interns from 2019 (live OSCE) and 2020 (VOSCE) participated.
• Encounters involved disclosing an error to an SP, observed by FF and a facilitator.
• Both SPs and FFs used a behavioral checklist to assess skill mastery post-encounter.

Main Results:

• Total mastery scores were significantly higher for SP assessments (68%) compared to FF assessments (46% in OSCE, 53% in VOSCE).
• SP assessment scores did not significantly differ between live OSCE and VOSCE formats.
• FF assessment scores also showed no significant difference based on the evaluation format (live vs. virtual).

Conclusions:

• Virtual OSCEs (VOSCEs) are a practical and effective alternative to in-person OSCEs.
• Comparable assessment results across modalities suggest VOSCEs maintain evaluation integrity.
• The accessibility of virtual sessions may enhance collaboration with key stakeholders in medical training.