Objective Structured Practical Examination: our experience in Pharmacology at Goa Medical College, Bambolim-Goa, India

Abstract

Background: Practical examination is an important component of evaluation in the medical curriculum. OSPE (objective structured practical examination) pattern has structured questions with marks for each point and all the objectives of teaching-learning can be tested and assigned the desired weightage. Methods: The evaluation was done for 146 II MBBS students in Pharmacology. Every student had to spend two minutes each for dosage form (DF) and drug advice (DA) at their respective stations. All the students had to attempt same questions to avoid bias of evaluation. Checklist was provided to the faculty who functioned as observers. Results: All the students believed that OSPE tests practical skills. Most of the students rated OSPE as better than traditional viva or table work. Almost half the students were satisfied with the present setup. Since it tests practical skills better, all the faculty were in favour of conducting the entire practicals in OSPE setup. 50% of faculty proposed need of incorporating injection technique on dummies which will help the students to learn injection techniques well. Conclusions: It is often difficult to measure practical knowledge and applications by written practical examinations. In such situation OSPE can be structured and standardized to evaluate the clinical applications.

Standardization and validation of objective structured practical examination in pharmacology: Our experience and lessons learned

“…[ 16 ] The students unhappiness with time allotted has also been reported in an earlier study by Chandelkar et al . [ 17 ]…”

Introducing objective structured practical examination as a method of learning and evaluation for undergraduate pharmacology

“…[15] In another study by Chandelkar et al ., it was found that all the students accepted OSPE because it helped them improve their practical skills and application in pharmacology. [16] Results of another study indicated better effect of objective structured assessment of technical skills on learning. [17]…”

Objective structured practical examination (OSPE) as a tool in formative assessment of II MBBS students, in pathology

“…A similar opinion was noted in a study by Chandelkar et al 8 81% of students felt OSPE was well structured, relevant and uniformity in evaluation are the documented advantages of this method compered to TPE. 8 The correlation between performance scores of OSPE and TPE were (r=0.48) statistically significant (P< 0.01). This was in accordance to a study by Rajan et al, where significant (P<0.05) improvement was observed in the performance scores obtained in OSPE as compared to TPE (Table 1).…”

“…This was in tandem with a study by Chandelkar et al, it was found that all the students accepted OSPE helped them improve their practical skills. 8 Examination is well known source of stress and anxiety and OSPE in particular was considered with quite minimum stress levels in our study. These findings were similar to a study by Wadde et al, probably this could be possibly due to least or indirect interaction with the examiners as well as students undergoing limited number of stations.…”