The Analysis of the OSCE in Psychiatry of Senior Medical Students

Ahn, Dong Hyun; Lee, Gyu Young; Park, Hoon Ki; Park, Yong Chon; Cho, Yun Gyoo; Kim, Seok Hyeon

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The Objective Structured Clinical Examination(OSCE) has been recently introduced in various Korean medical schools to evaluate clinical competence of medical students in the psychiatry setting. This study attempts to provide basic data for the future research to improve reliability and validity in implementing OSCE in psychiatry by analyzing OSCE checklists and scores that Hanyang University Medical School has produced for the past 4 years and examining any problems related to station duplication and correlation between OSCE scores and other test scores.
METHODS
OSCE was conducted for senior students of Medical School of Hanyang University from 1996 through 1999. In 1996, it was given to students in a form of self checklist after a relevant video tape was shown to them. The clinical professor evaluated them using checklists after a relevant video tape was shown to them in 1997 and 1998. In 1999, the clinical professor evaluated them using further detailed checklists after interviewing standardized patients. Stations were duplicated in 2 places over 4 years. The scores were compared and analyzed based on overall scores, each question and each duplicated station. The correlation of scores of OSCE and other examinations has been also explored.
RESULTS
The OSCE scores have changed significantly every year. The scores of the questions related to diagnosis and management showed significant correlation between the OSCE and other examinations conducted in 1998 and 1999. The overall scores for each duplicated station showed significant difference between 1997 and 1998, but not between 1996 and 1999. However the analysis of questions of OSCE conducted in 1999 indicated that the scores of 9 questions demonstrated significant difference between the duplicated stations.
CONCLUSION
It is required to formulate and distribute checklists suited to evaluate students attitudes and qualification as clinical doctors. In order to enhance reliability across stations, the assessor needs to take sufficient training prior to examination: evaluation criteria need to be clearly defined: and further study on standardized patients is required.