Improving OSCE examiner skills in a Malaysian setting.

摘要

Context and setting Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are used for summative assessment at final year level in the undergraduate medical programme of a medical school in Malaysia. Training of examiners was instituted 3 years after the OSCE was introduced. Why the idea was necessary Previous observations of examiners in OSCEs raised 2 concerns: faculty were inconsistent in marking checklists and some demonstrated inappropriate behaviour, such as prompting and teaching. What was done Examiner training was instituted in February 2006 to improve skills in OSCE examination. To date, 36 OSCE examiners have been trained through 4 training workshops. In the workshops, volunteer students and 4 standardised stations were used to train examiners using a 2-way mirror system. Examiner behaviour was scored using a checklist and examiners, both inside and outside the consultation room, scored student performance. Station checklist scores were compared before and after discussion. Evaluation of results and impact During the training workshops, examiners showed wide variation in scoring. Examiners were observed during subsequent OSCEs to determine whether their scoring skills and behaviour had improved. Observers in the OSCEs reported wide variations in scoring practices between trained and untrained examiners who examined the same OSCE station in parallel tracks. In addition, examiners who underwent training prior to the OSCE were generally consistent in their behaviour and provided none or minimal prompting. By contrast, untrained examiners were inconsistent and prompted students.