In‐person and virtual assessment of oral radiology skills and competences by the Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Abstract

Purpose Clinical education is an essential part of the Dental School curriculum and assessment is a fundamental component of the teaching‐learning process. Objectives With the purpose of implementing a structured and objective assessment method in the teaching of Oral Radiology, undergraduate dentistry students were submitted to an assessment of clinical competences and skills in radiology by the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), applied both in‐person and virtually (VOSCE). Methods The same group of students was evaluated by the OSCE and VOSCE in six‐station circuits that involved the assessment of clinical skills in Oral Radiology. For each station, an individual evaluative checklist (per station) was prepared and the participants’ general scores were obtained. The students’ anxiety level was also assessed before and after the exams and a meta‐evaluation was performed to indicate the participants' perception of the assessment methods. Results The OSCE (0.61) and VOSCE (0.81) reliability values were considered substantial and almost perfect, respectively. The students evaluated showed a better performance in the OSCE (p ≤ 0.05). Anxiety levels were considered moderate in both assessments and showed no difference between the two exams. The meta‐evaluation showed a positive evaluation for the items “time of execution”, “clarity”, “degree of difficulty” and “importance for clinical practice”, both for the OSCE and the VOSCE. Conclusions The OSCE was effective for evaluating clinical competencies and skills in Oral Radiology, both in face‐to‐face and virtual examinations, but with a limitation in the online method for evaluating technical skills.

Reliability of online dental final exams in the pre and post COVID-19 era: A comparative study

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about new challenges in dental education, and the need for an online evaluation platform has been recognized [ 10 ]. It is important to note that online evaluation platforms can be designed in many different ways, and their reliability depend on various factors, such as the number of items, types of questions, and methods used to prevent cheating [ 11 ]. Additionally, the reliability of self-reported dental visits may not be as valid as direct clinical examinations, which are considered the gold standard for assessing dental health [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Feasibility and reliability of the pandemic-adapted online-onsite hybrid graduation OSCE in Japan

“…Three studies have assessed the reliability of virtual OSCEs by calculating Cronbach’s alphas (Oliven et al, 2011 , 2021 ; Porto et al, 2023 ). Porto et al ( 2023 ) conducted virtual OSCE to assess oral radiology skills and competencies of undergraduate dentistry students, and its reliability was compared to that of in-person OSCE for the same participants. The Cronbach’s alphas of virtual OSCE was 0.81, while that of in-person OSCE was 0.61, showing substantial reliability.…”

“…These virtual OSCEs are satisfactory, feasible, and cost-effective as per survey results (Langenau et al, 2014;Shaban et al, 2021;Shaiba et al, 2021), questionnaire feedbacks (Skrzypek et al, 2022;Motkur et al, 2022;Garofalo et al, 2023), empirical analysis (Felthun et al, 2021b;Minty et al, 2022), and descriptive qualitative studies (Shorbagi et al, 2022;Saad et al, 2022;Thampy et al, 2022;). Although three studies assessed the reliability of virtual OSCEs by calculating Cronbach's alphas, and they were about 0.80 (Oliven et al, 2011(Oliven et al, , 2021Porto et al, 2023), a reliability analysis based on G-theory is yet to be reported (Kunutsor et al, 2022).…”

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

“…The exam is conducted using defined methods and assessment tools to assure the validity and reliability of the remote OSCE. The utilization of digital tools like high-resolution cameras and real-time video conferencing software also contributes to a more realistic and immersive experience for both students and standardized patients (32)(33)(34).…”