Objective structured clinical examination use in advanced orthodontic dental education

The use of objective structured clinical examination in dental education- a narrative review

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a performance-based assessment intended to assess medical students' clinical competency in a simulated, standardized environment. Because it measures the student's ability to use clinical knowledge, diagnostic skill, and decision-making, the OSCE is thought to be more objective than traditional tests. OSCE exams have been increasingly employed in dentistry schools, particularly in the last decade, and it is crucial to investigate instructors' and dental students' experiences with this evaluation approach.

Evaluation of objective structured clinical examination for advanced orthodontic education 12 years after introduction

INTRODUCTION

Advanced education programs in orthodontics must ensure student competency in clinical skills. An objective structure clinical examination has been used in 1 program for over a decade. The results were analyzed cross-sectionally and longitudinally to provide insights regarding the achievement of competency, student growth, question difficulty, question discrimination, and question predictive ability.

METHODS

In this study, we analyzed 218 (82 first-year, 68 second-year, and 68 third-year classes) scores of each station from 85 orthodontic students. The grades originated from 13 stations and were collected anonymously for 12 consecutive years during the first 2 decades of the 2000s. The stations tested knowledge and skills regarding dental relationships, analyzing a cephalometric tracing, performing a diagnostic skill, identifying cephalometric points, bracket placement, placing first-order and second-order bends, forming a loop, placing accentuated third-order bends, identifying problems and planning mixed dentition treatment, identifying problems and planning adolescent dentition treatment, identifying problems and planning nongrowing skeletal treatment, superimposing cephalometric tracings, and interpreting cephalometric superimpositions. Results were evaluated using multivariate analysis of variance, chi-square tests, and latent growth analysis.

RESULTS

The multivariate analysis of variance showed that all stations except 3 (analyzing a cephalometric tracing, forming a loop, and identifying cephalometric points) had significantly lower mean scores for the first-year student class than the second- and third-year classes (P <0.028); scores between the second- and third-year student classes were not significantly different (P >0.108). The chi-square analysis of the distribution of the number of noncompetent item responses decreased from the first to the second years (P <0.0003), from the second to the third years (P <0.0042), and from the first to the third years (P <0.00003). The latent growth analysis showed a wide range of difficulty and discrimination between questions. It also showed continuous growth for some areas and the ability of 6 questions to predict competency at greater than the 80% level.

CONCLUSIONS

Objective structure clinical examinations can provide a method of evaluating student performance and curriculum impact over time, but cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the results may not be complementary. Significant learning appears to occur during all years of a 3-year program. Valuable questions were both easy and difficult, discriminating and not discriminating, and came from all domains: diagnostic, technical, and evaluation/synthesis.

Assessment formats in dental medicine: An overview

AIM

At the annual meeting of German dentists in Frankfurt am Main in 2013, the Working Group for the Advancement of Dental Education (AKWLZ) initiated an interdisciplinary working group to address assessments in dental education. This paper presents an overview of the current work being done by this working group, some of whose members are also actively involved in the German Association for Medical Education's (GMA) working group for dental education. The aim is to present a summary of the current state of research on this topic for all those who participate in the design, administration and evaluation of university-specific assessments in dentistry.

METHOD

Based on systematic literature research, the testing scenarios listed in the National Competency-based Catalogue of Learning Objectives (NKLZ) have been compiled and presented in tables according to assessment value.

RESULTS

Different assessment scenarios are described briefly in table form addressing validity (V), reliability (R), acceptance (A), cost (C), feasibility (F), and the influence on teaching and learning (EI) as presented in the current literature. Infoboxes were deliberately chosen to allow readers quick access to the information and to facilitate comparisons between the various assessment formats. Following each description is a list summarizing the uses in dental and medical education.

CONCLUSION

This overview provides a summary of competency-based testing formats. It is meant to have a formative effect on dental and medical schools and provide support for developing workplace-based strategies in dental education for learning, teaching and testing in the future.

Integration of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) into the dental preliminary exams

Introduction: In the pre-clinical phase of the study of dentistry at the University of Greifswald, the course “Early Patient Contact (EPC)” is conducted within the framework of Community Medicine/Dentistry. The course is based on three pillars: the patient visiting program, special problem-oriented seminars, and communication training for doctors. The essential goal consists of providing students with real patient contact right at the beginning of their study of dentistry, thus making the study of dentistry patient-based very early on. Students are trained in taking comprehensive anamneses and recording clinical findings.

Methods: Within the framework of the dental preliminary exams, the course is evaluated using an OSCE on a standardized patient. Furthermore, the added value of an additional training unit (conducting anamnesis and clinical examination) in preparation for the OSCE was evaluated. The exam results of a group without training (control group) were compared with those of a group with training (intervention group).

Results: The intervention group performed significantly better than the control on the following items: the total number of points achieved on the OSCE early patient contact, and in the most important points of the anamnesis and clinical examination. In addition, the intervention group tended to score higher in terms of the item “oral health status”.

Conclusion: The present study showed a positive effect of an additional training unit on students’ performance in the OSCE. Taking the limitations of the study and the results of a literature review into account, we recommend conducting such training as preparation for the OSCE.

Correlation between student performances on course level integrated clinical skills examinations and objective structured clinical examinations in a chiropractic college program

PURPOSE

This retrospective study measured correlation of student performance between 2 objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and an introductory integrated clinical skills course that preceded the OSCEs. The hypothesis was that there would be a strong, positive correlation between the earlier level examinations and the upper level OSCE, high enough that earlier examinations could be viewed as predictors of upper level OSCE performance.

METHODS

Using student scores for 5 academic terms of upper level OSCEs for 2008-2009 (n = 208) and respective earlier scores, correlation coefficients were calculated for the upper level OSCE and Clinical Skills course, and upper and lower level OSCEs. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to evaluate how well the lower level OSCE and clinical skills scores, both as lone and combined independent variables, predicted the upper level OSCE scores.

RESULTS

There was at least a moderate correlation between both sets of scores: r = .51 (p < .001) between upper level OSCE and clinical skills course, r = .54 (p < .001) between the upper and lower level OSCEs. A combination of clinical skills and lower level OSCE scores suggested a moderate prediction of upper level OSCE scores (R(2) = .38.)

CONCLUSIONS

Correlations were found to be of at least a moderate level. According to linear regression analysis, a combination of the earlier scores was moderately predictive for the upper level OSCE. More research could be done to determine additional components of student performance.