Effectiveness of objective structured practical examination as a formative assessment tool as compared to traditional method for M. B. B. S students

2016-11-24T04-45-51Z
Source: International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
Nisha Ram Relwani, Rishikesh A. Wadke, Seema Anjenaya, Pradeep N. Sawardekar.
Background: Most of medical colleges in India follow Traditional Practical Examination for evaluation of practical or clinical skills wherein students are assessed only for knowledge and not for attitude and skill. Traditional methods have several flaws like inter-examiner marks variation, examiners subjectivity, varying difficulty level of different experiments, etc. which prevents uniform marking. These flaws could be minimized by newer methods like OSPE. Objective of the study was to know the effectiveness of objective structured practical examination (O.S.P.E) as a formative assessment tool as compared to traditional methods for M.B.B.S students and to know the perception of participating students and faculties towards OSPE. Methods: A cross sectional comparative study was carried out on 63 MBBS students. Students were subjected to Traditional Practical Examination followed by OSPE. Mean marks for all students were calculated by both the methods. A Likerts scale based questionnaire on OSPE was distributed among the students and faculties to know their views and perceptions towards OSPE. The results were analysed by SPSS version 20.0. Results: Average marks scored by the students in OSPE (18.74±4.395) were higher as compared to Traditional Practical Examination (13.81±3.814) which was statistically significant. 74.4% of the students and 65.4% faculties strongly agreed that OSPE is fairer in comparison to Traditional Practical Examination. 90.5% students strongly agreed that variability of examiner & patient can be removed to a large extent by OSPE. Conclusions: OSPE was found to be a more effective assessment tool than traditional method. As regards perception, both students and faculties strongly agreed that OSPE is fairer assessment tool compared to traditional practical examination.


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