Student and Faculty Perception of Objective Structured Clinical Examination: A Teaching Hospital Experience

INTRODUCTION: The primary objective of this study was to explore student and faculty perception of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to assess the clinical competence of 5(th) year medical students. METHODS: Two validated tools were used to survey students' and faculty perception of the OSCE as an assessment tool. The questionnaires were self-administered and handed to the students immediately after the OSCE was conducted. Subjects were 29 female students who had completed their 3-week Internal Medicine rotation and 15 faculty members who had participated in evaluating the students. The response rate was 100%. The OSCE comprised of 21 active stations involving skills like history taking standardized patients were used, physical examination, and data interpretation for which real patients were used, physical examination, or management. Standardized or real patients were used in 16 stations. RESULTS: Majority of students, 63.2% indicated that the OSCE assessed their skills fairly. This was also true for 80% thought the OSCE was a fair method of assessing students' skills as well as a better assessment tool than the traditional long/short case exams. CONCLUSION: The OSCE was positively perceived by 5(th) year medical students and faculty members as a tool that can fairly assess students' clinical skills.