Measuring Professional Behaviour in Canadian Physical Therapy Students' Objective Structured Clinical Examinations: An Environmental Scan

Abstract

Purpose: To identify professional behaviours measured in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) by Canadian university physical therapy (PT) programs. Method: A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted to review current practice and determine which OSCE items Canadian PT programs are using to measure PT students' professional behaviours. Telephone interviews using semi-structured questions were conducted with individual instructors responsible for courses that included an OSCE as part of the assessment component. Results: Nine PT programmes agreed to take part in the study, and all reported conducting at least one OSCE. The number and characteristics of OSCEs varied both within and across programs. Participants identified 31 professional behaviour items for use in an OSCE; these items clustered into four categories: communication (n ¼ 14), respect (n ¼ 10), patient safety (n ¼ 4), and physical therapists' characteristics (n ¼ 3). Conclusions: All Canadian entry-level PT programmes surveyed assess professional behaviours in OSCEtype examinations; however, the content and style of assessment is variable. The local environment should be considered when determining what professional behaviours are appropriate to assess in the OSCE context in individual programmes.Key Words: education, professional; educational measurement; students. RÉ SUMÉObjet : Cerner les comportements professionnels mesuré s dans les examens cliniques objectifs structuré s dans le cadre des programmes de physiothé rapie des université s canadiennes. Mé thode : Un sondage té lé phonique transversal a é té effectué pour examiner la pratique actuelle et dé terminer les é lé ments des examens cliniques objectifs structuré s (ECOS) utilisé s dans le cadre des programmes canadiens de physiothé rapie pour mesurer les comportements professionnels des é tudiants en physiothé rapie. On a mené des entrevues té lé phoniques dans lesquelles on posait des questions semi-structuré es aux instructeurs chargé s des cours comportant un ECOS dans la composante d'é valuation. Ré sultats : Neuf programmes de physiothé rapie ont accepté de participer à l'é tude, et les ré pondants ont tous dé claré qu'ils effectuaient au moins un examen clinique objectif structuré . Le nombre et les caracté ristiques des ECOS variaient à la fois au sein d'un mê me programme et entre les programmes. Les participants ont cerné 31 é lé ments de comportement professionnel à mesurer dans un ECOS; ils se regroupent en quatre caté gories: communication

Reaching Consensus on Measuring Professional Behaviour in Physical Therapy Objective Structured Clinical Examinations

“…4,5 In a previous national study, 11 participants identified 31 PBs as items that have been assessed in an OSCE context. Feasibility is an important consideration in the assessment of PBs, 23 and we eliminated several items during our consensus exercise because they were deemed infeasible in an OSCE context.…”

“…11 It gives students an opportunity to be evaluated on their clinical skills and PBs. The feedback that students receive in PB assessment can be valuable to those still struggling to integrate these complex behaviours into their clinical practice (e.g., effective communication, respect).…”

“…11 Panellists eliminated 11 of the 31 criteria because they were deemed to be both unimportant and infeasible; 4 criteria because they were deemed to be infeasible; and, finally, 1 criterion that was considered to be redundant, compared with another criterion, on the basis of unsolicited comments from the panellists. Hence, 15 criteria remained for consideration in round 2.…”

“…This list had been generated in an earlier national survey. 11 The purpose of round 1 was to begin to reduce the number of criteria and obtain a manageable number to use in an OSCE. We asked panellists whether each criterion was important, clear, and feasible for assessing PBs in the context of an OSCE using ''agree,'' ''neutral/unsure,'' and ''disagree'' response options in a questionnaire delivered through the SurveyMonkey online survey platform.…”

Psychometric Testing of Instrument for Assessment of Nursing Students Professional Behavior in Indonesia

“…However, professionalism is difficult to defined [5], taught and assessed [4,6,7]. The importance of teaching and measuring professionalism is undoubtedly in professional education of healthcare [4,6,8,9,10].…”