Use of Eye-Tracking Technology by Medical Students Taking the Objective Structured Clinical Examination: Descriptive Study

Abstract

Background The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a test used throughout Spain to evaluate the clinical competencies, decision making, problem solving, and other skills of sixth-year medical students. Objective The main goal of this study is to explore the possible applications and utility of portable eye-tracking systems in the setting of the OSCE, particularly questions associated with attention and engagement. Methods We used a portable Tobii Glasses 2 eye tracker, which allows real-time monitoring of where the students were looking and records the voice and ambient sounds. We then performed a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the fields of vision and gaze points attracting attention as well as the visual itinerary. Results Eye-tracking technology was used in the OSCE with no major issues. This portable system was of the greatest value in the patient simulators and mannequin stations, where interaction with the simulated patient or areas of interest in the mannequin can be quantified. This technology proved useful to better identify the areas of interest in the medical images provided. Conclusions Portable eye trackers offer the opportunity to improve the objective evaluation of candidates and the self-evaluation of the stations used as well as medical simulations by examiners. We suggest that this technology has enough resolution to identify where a student is looking at and could be useful for developing new approaches for evaluating specific aspects of clinical competencies.

The Application of a System of Eye Tracking in Laparoscopic Surgery: A New Didactic Tool to Visual Instructions

“…On the other hand, there are studies that have suggested the use of eye tracking (ocular metrics) to assess an objective evaluation in medical ( 24 , 25 ) and surgical education ( 2 , 17 , 26 , 27 ) and also in high-stakes assessment analogously to other validated objective evaluations, such as the Operative Performance Rating System, the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) ( 3 ), or the Global Operative Assessment of Laparoscopic Skills (GOALS) ( 17 ). Eye tracking could serve to evaluate skills because this technology allows perceiving not only the pattern of gaze but also the frequency of fixation and the time of permanence, which are used as measures of the importance of the perceived stimulus, as well as pupil dilation, a marker of the effort and concentration of the subject ( 3 , 10 , 12 ).…”