Psychiatric OSCEs in USM: Developmental background and scope

Abstract

A majority of the earlier psychiatric OSCE stations produced by the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medical Sciences for the phase III examination were not valid OSCE because they did not assess students' clinical skills. The types of OSCE questions produced then were more appropriately called OSPEs (Objectives Structured Practical Exams). When the initial pressure to produce a large number of OSCE questions was overcome and video facilities became available in the department, the more appropriate OSCE questions were produced. The use of video facility was the only solution to the problem of assessing psychiatric students structured clinical skills in a large number. The uses of videotaped material not only help overcome the logistic problem but also the problem of poor inter-rater reliability and inter-patient variability. When used together with a checklist, the variability of the examiners and patients were to large extent removed. It is close to the ideal assessment situation, where
all students are examined on the same patient and assessed by the same examiners. The use of real of simulated patients would be suitable in the OSCEs if the number of students was small.