The Cost of Components of a Fourth Year OSCE

Marshall, Z. and Wolfe, L. (2018) The Cost of Components of a Fourth Year OSCE. VetEd Symposium 2018, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 05-06 Jul 2018.

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Abstract

The value of using Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) to assess clinical skills is widely accepted across medicine, nursing and veterinary programmes. The OSCE is seen as an extremely valuable tool which allows students to “show how” they would act in a clinical situation with good validity and reliability. Cost-effectiveness is one of the components of the assessment utility index, which defines the usefulness of an assessment as a product of its reliability, validity, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility and educational impact (van der Vleuten 1996). OSCEs are undoubtedly expensive for institutions who utilise them, especially as “high stakes” final exams. There is a lack of other assessment tools to assess clinical skills, so institutions should be encouraged to understand the costs associated to inform resource allocation and plan realistic economies. Running an OSCE is similar to running a theatre production: significant costs are seen in the development, production, administration and post-production phases (Reznick et al. 1993). We used Reznick et al.’s (1993) four phases of the OSCE process for categorising data: development, production, administration and post-examination reporting and analysis. At the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine, multiple years have summative OSCEs, but we focused on the three-day, 15- station, summative fourth year OSCE for students on the BVMS 5-year programme. The poster will outline some of the more interesting and thought-provoking findings. Are OSCE costs modifiable without jeopardising reliability or validity? What potential cost-saving changes can we make? Reznick R, Smee S, Baumber J, Cohen R, Rothman A, Blackmore D, Berard M. 1993. Guidelines for estimating the real cost of an objective structured clinical examination. Acad Med 68(7):513-517. Van der Vleuten V. 1996. The assessment of professional competence: Developments, research and practical implications. Ad Health Sci Educ 1:41-67.

Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Wolfe, Miss Lissann and Marshall, Dr Zamantha
Authors: Marshall, Z., and Wolfe, L.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2018 The Authors
Publisher Policy:Reproduced with the permission of the Authors

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