Journal of cranio-maxillo-facial surgery : official publication of the European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery
-
J Craniomaxillofac Surg · Jul 2013
Development and implementation of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in CMF-surgery for dental students.
We introduced the OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) as a method of assessment in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. The OSCE is a clinical competency test and a very good example of a practical performance (shows how) assessment instead of a theoretical written measurement (knows and knows how). The OSCE at this Department was designed to assess some of the skills that are supposedly gained during a PBL curriculum (skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving and hypothesis formation). The aim of this study was to find where the strengths and weaknesses of learning contents are during the CMF practical course and how we may raise the students' clinical competence. Furthermore we wanted to examine the possibility of achieving an OSCE with ten stations for a single department. ⋯ With good preparation, it is possible to run a ten station-OSCE circuit with ten examiners in one afternoon without interrupting patient care. The degree of difficulty was mainly acceptable. The overall average score for students' was within a range of 40-80%, which is similar to the international literature. The questionnaires showed that students and examiners viewed the new OSCE very positively.