Computer Assisted Objective Structured Clinical Examination: A useful tool for dermatology undergraduate assessment

Abstract

CA-OSCE is a useful tool for assessment of dermatology undergraduates. It has the potential to drive them to attend regularly as well as to test their higher cognitive skills of analysis and problem solving.

Validation of a computer based objective structured clinical examination in the assessment of undergraduate dermatology courses

“…Grover et al, [2] have previously documented the use of a computer assisted OSCE (CA-OSCE) for undergraduate dermatology assessment and their study showed good acceptance by the students. This study highlighted the importance of considering such a method in the situation of shortage of faculty in dermatology teaching institutes.…”

“…However, it was not documented how well the OSCE correlates to overall performance of the student. [2] While the OSCE is definitely more objective compared to other more traditional methods like case presentations, equal importance should be given to other aspects related to reliability and validity. One of the most important factors which increases reliability would be to increase the number of slides.…”

“…Computer-based images could be a good substitute to the actual patients for achieving these objectives and the objectivity of such an examination can be increased by conducting it in the form of a computerized OSCE. [2,3] We have been conducting such a computer-based OSCE for the last two years in our institution. The questions are prepared by the faculty and have been modified after piloting on previous batches of students of a batch of 129 medical students of fifth year we aimed to correlate the scores obtained on a computer-based dermatology OSCE with scores in the clinical case presentation and the final scores that included the written assessment and professional behavior assessment.…”

Undergraduate Dermatology Medical Education: Results of a Large-Scale Patient Viewing Program

“…Digital modules, problem-based learning, and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) style teaching have all been reported in the literature, and the use of standardized patients consistently appears to be an effective way of teaching dermatology. 6,7 In fall 2015, the University of Toronto Division of Dermatology restructured the undergraduate medical education curriculum, moving away from didactic lectures and 3 half-days of clinics and transitioning toward online modules with a large-scale, 32-station patient-viewing education program.…”

“…Digital modules, problem-based learning, and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) style teaching have all been reported in the literature, and the use of standardized patients consistently appears to be an effective way of teaching dermatology. 6,7…”