Medical Teacher
ISSN: 0142-159X (Print) 1466-187X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/imte20
Assessing students from multiple years using a single Objective Structured Clinical Examination Beniko Lawrence, Anu Modupe & David Blundell To cite this article: Beniko Lawrence, Anu Modupe & David Blundell (2016) Assessing students from multiple years using a single Objective Structured Clinical Examination, Medical Teacher, 38:4, 424-424, DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2015.1072271 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2015.1072271
Published online: 19 Aug 2015.
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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=imte20 Download by: [Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi]
Date: 26 April 2016, At: 07:17
2016, 38: 424–428
Downloaded by [Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi] at 07:17 26 April 2016
Letters to the Editor
Assessing students from multiple years using a single Objective Structured Clinical Examination Dear Sir Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) play a pivotal role in assessment. Running an OSCE can be expensive, and its practicality and feasibility can be a burden to its implementation. Staff, preparation, venue, patient transport and availability, all add up to the cost. To address the difficulties of running a practice OSCE for medical students who are preparing for their summative exams, we developed a multiyear OSCE. Forty-four students from different years participated in a twelve-station multi-year OSCE set in a district general teaching hospital. The OSCE station accommodated different year groups by varying the complexity of each station. Each version of the stations assessed similar skills; however, stations were developed to assess different learning outcomes expected of the year group. For example, a communication skill station where a third-year student would be required to counsel on the use of an inhaler, a fifth-year student would be asked to deal with an angry relative. Feedback using a Likert-type scale showed that 100% of students agreed that the OSCE was set at an appropriate level. A multi-year OSCE helps to construct an efficient formative OSCE where resources are limited. Assessing multiple year groups simultaneously using a single circuit is practical and achievable. It has enabled us to give students an opportunity to prepare for their upcoming summative assessment, and provide an occasion for students to recognise their progress and find gaps in their knowledge for future development For obvious reasons, a multi-year OSCE is unlikely to be suitable for a summative assessment. However, we believe that it can be used effectively in aiding a students’ progress and development. The use of a formative OSCE to evaluate weakness in the teaching programme has been advocated in literature (Rosenbraugh et al. 1997), and a multi-year OSCE may also be useful in assessing local teaching programmes across several year groups. Beniko Lawrence, Anu Modupe, and David Blundell, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
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Declaration of interest: The OSCE was run as a fundraising event of a non-profit organization, You Restored, which A. M., B. L. and D. B. are a part.
Reference Rosenbraugh CJ, Speer AJ, Solomon DJ, Szauter KE, Ainsworth MA, Holden MD, Leiberman SA, Clyburn EB. 1997. Setting standards and defining quality of performance in the validation of a standardizedpatient examination format. Acad Med 72:1012–1014. DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2015.1072271 ß 2015 Taylor & Francis
Treating your own students: Ethical challenges for mental health professionals Dear Sir Stress of medical education is often reflected in high rates of psychological morbidity in medical students (Dyrbye et al. 2006). Consequently, a significant proportion of medical students are expected to require some form of mental health treatment, at least for a brief period of time. However, such treatment poses certain ethical challenges for the mental health professionals who treat students from their own medical schools. The first issue for medical teachers relates to confidentiality of their students, which might be practically difficult to ensure in the medical school (Guille et al. 2010). Hospitals attached to medical schools are visited by students during their rotations, increasing the potential visibility of students under treatment. Nursing and other ancillary staff is also likely to know the identity of the students under care which may influence their interaction later on during the rotations. Also, some medical schools do have administrative statutes in place for reporting students with mental health issues to the deanery. Hence, some students might be deterred due to the fear of being labelled as a ‘‘psychiatric patient’’. Academic mental health professionals thus need to be quite vigilant about confidentiality issues of their students. The second ethical question for the professionals relates to having a non-judgemental attitude towards students who had been their patients in the past. Knowing about a student’s
ISSN: 0142-159X (Print) 1466-187X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/imte20
Assessing students from multiple years using a single Objective Structured Clinical Examination Beniko Lawrence, Anu Modupe & David Blundell To cite this article: Beniko Lawrence, Anu Modupe & David Blundell (2016) Assessing students from multiple years using a single Objective Structured Clinical Examination, Medical Teacher, 38:4, 424-424, DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2015.1072271 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2015.1072271
Published online: 19 Aug 2015.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 116
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=imte20 Download by: [Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi]
Date: 26 April 2016, At: 07:17
2016, 38: 424–428
Downloaded by [Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi] at 07:17 26 April 2016
Letters to the Editor
Assessing students from multiple years using a single Objective Structured Clinical Examination Dear Sir Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) play a pivotal role in assessment. Running an OSCE can be expensive, and its practicality and feasibility can be a burden to its implementation. Staff, preparation, venue, patient transport and availability, all add up to the cost. To address the difficulties of running a practice OSCE for medical students who are preparing for their summative exams, we developed a multiyear OSCE. Forty-four students from different years participated in a twelve-station multi-year OSCE set in a district general teaching hospital. The OSCE station accommodated different year groups by varying the complexity of each station. Each version of the stations assessed similar skills; however, stations were developed to assess different learning outcomes expected of the year group. For example, a communication skill station where a third-year student would be required to counsel on the use of an inhaler, a fifth-year student would be asked to deal with an angry relative. Feedback using a Likert-type scale showed that 100% of students agreed that the OSCE was set at an appropriate level. A multi-year OSCE helps to construct an efficient formative OSCE where resources are limited. Assessing multiple year groups simultaneously using a single circuit is practical and achievable. It has enabled us to give students an opportunity to prepare for their upcoming summative assessment, and provide an occasion for students to recognise their progress and find gaps in their knowledge for future development For obvious reasons, a multi-year OSCE is unlikely to be suitable for a summative assessment. However, we believe that it can be used effectively in aiding a students’ progress and development. The use of a formative OSCE to evaluate weakness in the teaching programme has been advocated in literature (Rosenbraugh et al. 1997), and a multi-year OSCE may also be useful in assessing local teaching programmes across several year groups. Beniko Lawrence, Anu Modupe, and David Blundell, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Wolverhampton, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
424
Declaration of interest: The OSCE was run as a fundraising event of a non-profit organization, You Restored, which A. M., B. L. and D. B. are a part.
Reference Rosenbraugh CJ, Speer AJ, Solomon DJ, Szauter KE, Ainsworth MA, Holden MD, Leiberman SA, Clyburn EB. 1997. Setting standards and defining quality of performance in the validation of a standardizedpatient examination format. Acad Med 72:1012–1014. DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2015.1072271 ß 2015 Taylor & Francis
Treating your own students: Ethical challenges for mental health professionals Dear Sir Stress of medical education is often reflected in high rates of psychological morbidity in medical students (Dyrbye et al. 2006). Consequently, a significant proportion of medical students are expected to require some form of mental health treatment, at least for a brief period of time. However, such treatment poses certain ethical challenges for the mental health professionals who treat students from their own medical schools. The first issue for medical teachers relates to confidentiality of their students, which might be practically difficult to ensure in the medical school (Guille et al. 2010). Hospitals attached to medical schools are visited by students during their rotations, increasing the potential visibility of students under treatment. Nursing and other ancillary staff is also likely to know the identity of the students under care which may influence their interaction later on during the rotations. Also, some medical schools do have administrative statutes in place for reporting students with mental health issues to the deanery. Hence, some students might be deterred due to the fear of being labelled as a ‘‘psychiatric patient’’. Academic mental health professionals thus need to be quite vigilant about confidentiality issues of their students. The second ethical question for the professionals relates to having a non-judgemental attitude towards students who had been their patients in the past. Knowing about a student’s
