Track E - Don't tell me, Show me ! : Using OSCE's in Education - Marion Hinds, Tina Moore, Laura Foley & Nicky Lambert (H&E)

The session presented the use of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) in the context of teaching Nursing at Middlesex and was vividly delivered by Marion Hinds, Tina Moore, Laura Foley and Nicky Lambert from the School of Health and Education. Laura Foley provided an outline of this ongoing project and explained how the team introduced OSCEs for assessment in Adult Nursing and Mental Health. Laura described the process of transitioning from vivas to OSCEs and presented the comparative advantages of OSCEs. A prominent advantage was the ability to better evaluate students' clinical and theoretical knowledge and professional skills, which are closely linked to employability skills. Nicky Lambert highlighted the positive response from students as well as shared with the audience the perception of the teaching team that OSCEs were a more egalitarian form of assessment. Whilst the examinations helped managing students' anxiety, Nicky also noted that it was a fairly resource-intensive form of assessment for staff. Marion Hinds stressed the importance of simulated clinical environments similar to OSCEs, cited relevant research evidence and provided examples of the usefulness of OSCEs  in terms of patient assessment in clinical settings.It was  exciting to see the potential of this form of assessment as far as the use of videos is concerned  and Tina Moore shared the plans of the team to move to Video Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (VOSCEs).

Following the presentation, participants of the session were invited to form groups and explore the relevance of OSCEs to their disciplines or areas of professional practice; disciplinary perspectives from Education, Theology and Social Work stirred up the debate on the validity and reliability of OSCEs as a form of assessment, and  offered an opportunity for the presenters to summarise the session on a very positive note.

On a final note, it is worth mentioning that the project will be presented this autumn at an international conference in Malta; colleagues with an interest in OSCEs as an assessment form, are encouraged to make contact with the team and share their thoughts and experiences.

Session video
Report by Mike Mimirinis, Senior Academic Developer, Centre for Academic Practice Enhancement