Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2015
Can emergency physicians accurately and reliably assess acute vertigo in the emergency department?
To validate a clinical diagnostic tool, used by emergency physicians (EPs), to diagnose the central cause of patients presenting with vertigo, and to determine interrater reliability of this tool. ⋯ In the hands of EPs, STANDING showed a good inter-observer agreement and accuracy validated against the local standard of care.
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The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) will introduce high stakes simulation-based summative assessment in the form of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) into the Fellowship Examination from 2015. Miller's model emphasises that, no matter how realistic the simulation, it is still a simulation and examinees do not necessarily behave as in real life. ⋯ However, the need to validate the OSCE is emphasised by conflicting evidence on correlation with long-term faculty assessments, between essential actions checklists and global assessment scores and variable interrater reliability within individual OSCE stations and for crisis resource management skills. Although OSCEs can be a valid, reliable and acceptable assessment tool, the onus is on the examining body to ensure construct validity and high interrater reliability.