Assessment Methods of an Undergraduate Psychiatry Course at a Saudi University = أساليب تقييم مساق الطب النفسي للطلاب في جامعة سعودية

Abstract

Objectives: In Arab countries there are few studies on assessment methods in the field of psychiatry. The objective of this study was to assess the outcome of different forms of psychiatric course assessment among fifth year medical students at King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Methods: We examined the performance of 110 fifth-year medical students through objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), traditional oral clinical examinations (TOCE), portfolios, multiple choice questions (MCQ), and a written examination. Results: The score ranges in TOCE, OSCE, portfolio, and MCQ were 32-50, 7-15, 5-10 and 22-45, respectively. In regression analysis, there was a significant correlation between OSCE and all forms of psychiatry examinations, except for the MCQ marks. OSCE accounted for 65.1% of the variance in total clinical marks and 31.5% of the final marks (P = 0.001), while TOCE alone accounted for 74.5% of the variance in the clinical scores. Conclusions: This study demonstrates a consistency among the students' assessment methods used in the psychiatry course, particularly the clinical component, in an integrated manner. This information would be useful for future developments in undergraduate teaching.Keywords: Undergraduate medical students; Assessment; Psychiatry; Undergraduate; Saudi Arabia. Assessment Methods of an UndergraduatePsychiatry Course at a Saudi University

Assessment of current undergraduate anesthesia course in a Saudi University

“…Amr and Amin[1] showed non-significant differences in male and female attainment in psychiatry in our institute. Our subjective impressions and a previous study suggested that women had more positive attitude and performed better than males in King Faisal University.…”

“…[11] OSCE is in use in many medical disciplines in Saudi Arabia, particularly in general surgery,[1213] orthopedics,[14] internal medicine, and psychiatry. [1]…”

“…The first 4 years of the curriculum are devoted to preclinical (medical sciences and family medicine). [1] The anesthesia course involves fifteen topics in anesthesia and intensive care for 5th year students. It covers seven basic concepts in anesthesia and intensive care including general anesthesia, anesthetic agents, local anesthesia, postoperative pain management, fluid therapy, blood transfusion, and basic life support.…”

“…[1] OSCEs have enjoyed much popularity since their introduction in 1975 by Harden, which replaced the clinical. [2] In our university, OSCE was introduced in the academic year 2011-2012, which is why we conducted this research to evaluate these multi-assessment tools.…”

“…[34] A preliminary study in our institution in psychiatry applied the OSCE to 5 th year medical students and reported that OSCE is a reliable measure in the formative assessment of students. [1]…”