An Online Management Information System for Objective Structured Clinical Examinations

Abstract

Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) are adopted for high stakes assessment in medical education. Students pass through a series of timed stations demonstrating specific skills. Examiners observe and rate students using predetermined criteria. In most OSCEs low level technology is used to capture, analyse and produce results. We describe an OSCE Management Information System (OMIS) to streamline the OSCE process and improve quality assurance. OMIS captured OSCE data in real time using a Web 2.0 platform. We compared the traditional paper trail outcome with detailed real time analyses of separate stations. Using a paper trail version only one student failed the OSCE. However, OMIS identified nineteen possibly 'incompetent' students. Although there are limitations to the design of the study, the results are promising and likely to lead to defendable judgements on student performance.

Back to the future: An online OSCE Management Information System for nursing OSCEs

“…The station checklists for both OSCEs were identical. The novel online OSCE Management Information System, which was developed "in-house" at the National University of Ireland Galway, was used to administer both examinations (Cunningham et al, 2008;Kropmans et al, 2012). OMIS retrieves, stores and analyses assessment data electronically.…”

“…In the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences of the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUI Galway), an online assessment tool was developed and implemented from 2009 onwards. The OSCE Management Information System (OMIS) contains a station and item bank, an OSCE planning and student management tool plus a fully fledged results analysis tool (Kropmans, et al, 2012). We acknowledge, however, that other elements of OSCE planning, including use of simulators, props, actors/ actresses and real patients, are not currently managed by OMIS.…”

Back to the Future: Electronic Marking of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations and Admission Interviews Using an Online Management Information System in Schools of Health Sciences

“…Cunningham and Kropmans developed an OSCE Management Information System (OMIS) that is currently used within 19 prestigious universities worldwide to retrieve, store and analyse all OSCE and MMI data. The aim of this study was to explore the benefits of an online OSCE Management Information System for School of Medicine OSCEs, by means of the analysis of two cohort studies [12,13].…”

“…The station checklists for both OSCEs were identical. The novel online OSCE Management Information System, which was developed "in-house" at the National University of Ireland Galway, was used to administer both examinations [12,13]. OMIS retrieves stores and analyses assessment data electronically.…”

Calibration of communication skills items in OSCE checklists according to the MAAS-Global

“…Station forms were made available in the station bank of the OSCE Management Information System (OMIS), as the OSCE was planned and executed [14]. The specific order of stations in an OSCE examination which allows students to follow through the consecutive station examinations is called a circuit [15].…”