Abstract: One of the most important mission and vision for University of Dammam is to send skilled physicians to deal and treat the patients in professional manner, which cannot be without perfect evaluation of the knowledge and clinical skills of the undergraduates. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was introduced to increase the reliability and validity of the exams.
A pilot study was conducted over one semester. A total of 299 examinees (4th year = 207 and 5th year = 92) took the OSCE and written exams in three groups. The OSCE consisted of 18–20 clinical stations, which included taking histories, physical examinations, communication skills, and data interpretation. The written exam contained 80 multiple-choice questions.
Cronbach's alphas by group were 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9 (4th year) and 0.62, 0.79, and 0.85 (5th year). Correlations for all stations ranged from 0.6 to 0.8, which indicated good stability and internal consistency. The reliability of the written exam was 0.79 (4th year) and 0.85 (5th year).The validity of the OSCE was assessed by Pearson's correlations, which were 0.63 (4th year), 0.6 (5th year), and 0.66 (overall).
The OSCE is a perfect tool for undergraduate’s assessment because of better reliability and validity, which can be measured.
Keywords: OSCE, assessment, clinical skills, Cronbach’s alpha, reliability, validity, Pearson's correlation.
Title: Correlations between the Objective Structured Clinical Examination Score and Written Examinations in Undergraduates
Author: Aisha M. Al-osail, Emad M. Al-osail, Mohannad A. Al-ghamdi, Abdulaziz M. Al-hawas, Abdullah S. Al-bahussain, Ahmed A. Aldajani
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-3148 (online), ISSN2348-313X (Print)
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