A final clinical examination using a sequential design to improve cost-effectiveness

Abstract

The overall utility of examinations involves compromise. The system described provides good perceived validity with reasonably reliable scores; a sequential design can concentrate resources where they are most needed and still allow wide sampling of tasks.

Money makes the (medical assessment) world go round: The cost of components of a summative final year Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

“…In the sequential OSCE, all students sit day one of an OSCE and candidates who achieve a clear pass do not sit day two. Cookson et al (2011) estimated that moving from eight long cases and 12 OSCE stations (with only the examiner and VP/SP fees included) to a sequential design of four long cases and six OSCE stations would save approximately one-third of the original cost (estimated savings of £30,000 compared to £85,500 for the full OSCE). Pell et al (2013) also estimated cost savings from utilizing the sequential design, including station-specific marginal costs (e.g.…”

Computer Assisted Objective Structured Clinical Examination: A useful tool for dermatology undergraduate assessment

“…[12] This format has been reported to have high validity and reliability. [10] Over the years, many modifications of OSCE including GOSCE (group OSCE), [13] OSLER (objective structured long examination record), [14] OSVE (objective structured video examination) [15] have been developed and evaluated. OSCE is particularly valuable for dermatology assessments as it effectively tests the visual recognition skills of a dermatology student.…”

Economic analysis in medical education: Definition of essential terms

“…At present, the evidence base as to what constitutes or how to achieve cost-effectiveness or favourable cost benefit or cost utility ratios in medical education is lacking. As a result, a growing number of researchers are interested in conducting research and contributing to the evidence base in this field (Cookson et al 2011;Münch-Harrach et al 2013). However, there is a need for further grounding in the basics of economic analyses in medical education.…”