ABSTRACT

Background: Practical examination is an integral part and important component of evaluation in medical education. Objectively structured practical examination (OSPE) was introduced as a component of clinical pharmacology examination; checklist have been designed with marks for each point and all teaching-learning objectives can be tested and assessed with direct observation of the students’ performance during planned practical test stations. Aims: The purpose of this study was to assess perceptions of the third year medical students in clinical pharmacology course; towards OSPE in comparison to their visibility of the traditional practical examination (TPE). Methods: Data were collected from 831 third year medical students of Mansoura University Faculty of Medicine in two successive years. At the end of OSPE, we requested the students to fill a 6-items questionnaire which evaluated the difficulty level, content, time, and fairness of the OSPE compared to the TPE. Results: Out of 831 students, 84.1% of them were satisfied with the OSPE maximum coverage of the relevant topics while 78.2% of the students felt that OSPE was fair and unbiased compared to TPE. More than half of the students (59.1%) thought that OSPE is easier than TPE. Further, 54.3% of the students believed that OSPE should completely replace TPE. Although 61.6% of students could answer comfortably within allotted time, 34.1% students found that OSPE needed more time compared to TPE. Conclusion: Use of OSPE is a feasible tool for assessment in the undergraduate clinical pharmacology curriculum. This study showed that OSPE is fairly acceptable by undergraduate students. It is a step in the direction of modifying the traditional patterns of practical examination to a more objective, impartial and authentic way of evaluation in clinical pharmacology. Keywords: OSPE, TPE, clinical pharmacology, Mansoura Faculty of Medicine

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2018/April/MS_IJBPAS_2018_4412.pdf

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