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Objective:To investigate the influence of the teaching model based on the synergy of medical education on the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) scores and critical thinking ability of interns in emergency department.Methods:A total of 84 students who studied as interns in Emergency Department of our hospital from January 2020 to 2021 were selected as research subjects, and they were divided into observation group and control group using a random number table, with 42 students in each group. The students in the control group were taught using traditional methods, while those in the observation group were taught based on the synergy of medical education. Both groups received an OSCE examination, and the two groups were compared in terms of OSCE score, critical thinking ability, and evaluation of teaching. SPSS 22.0 was used to perform the t-test and the chi-square test. Results:Compared with the control group, the observation group had significantly higher scores of theoretical assessment, disease assessment, first aid measures, special skills, use of medical instruments, communication skills with SP, and medical record writing and a significantly higher total score of OSCE assessment ( P<0.05). After teaching, both groups had a significant increase in the score of critical thinking ability, and the observation group had a significantly higher score than the control group [(306.38±25.76) vs. (280.39±20.17)]. The observation group had a significantly higher degree of satisfaction with teaching than the control group ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The teaching model based on the synergy of medical education can improve the OSCE score of interns in emergency department and cultivate their critical thinking ability, and there is a relatively high degree of satisfaction with this teaching model.
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To investigate the research status and trends of application of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in medical education in China and globally, and to provide a reference for clinical teaching and medical education research. CNKI and Web of Science Core Collection were searched to identify journal articles related to OSCE published up to the present day. CtieSpace V software was used to visually analyze the research institutions, authors, highly cited literature, and keyword changes of the articles based on scientific knowledge maps. The overall number of publications on OSCE published in China and globally showed an increasing trend, but foreign publications were significantly more than Chinese publications. The institutions and authors were widely distributed. Comprehensive universities were the main institutions in foreign publications, with relatively little cooperation between each other. Domestic research primarily focused on medical education in the early stage, SP training and standardization in the middle stage, and clinical competence for resident physicians, nurses, and other clinical professionals in the late stage. Early foreign research focused mainly on medical education and clinical competence, while later research focused primarily on communication with patients and ability assessment. It is expected that future domestic research will focus on building clinical competence evaluation systems based on the OSCE model, while future foreign research will focus on patient communication and humanistic care assessment.
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Objective:To explore the application value of objective structured radiology examination (OSRE) in clinical skills assessment of medical imaging technology, and evaluate the repeatability of the assessment tool.Methods:A total of 55 interns majoring in medical imaging technology were randomly divided into 11 groups (5 in each group), and 9 different cases of OSRE were designed. Each student had to complete 3 cases of OSRE. Five senior attending doctors or deputy chief physicians independently evaluated each case of OSRE. Two months after the internship, three cases of OSRE were randomly selected for scoring to evaluate the internal consistency between raters and the repeatability of the evaluation method. SPSS 16.0 was used for statistical analysis, and multiple linear regression was used to analyze the correlation between academic qualifications and OSRE scores.Results:The OSRE average score of all the students was (12.0±4.9), and the average ICC range between evaluators was 0.36 to 0.80 ( P < 0.001). The consistency of 6 cases was good, that of case 3 was poor, and that of cases 6 and 7 was moderate. After 2 months, the ICC of 4 raters was equal to or greater than 0.8 (excellent consistency), and the ICC of rater 3 was 0.68, and the average original score difference ranged from -1 to 0.8. In multiple linear regression, the OR value of education was 0.90 (95% confidence interval 0.30-1.50, P = 0.01), and education was positively correlated with OSRE score. Conclusion:The OSRE aims to assess clinical skills and knowledge in a standardized clinical environment through the use of pre-set standard scoring scales, so that clinical knowledge can be evaluated in a high-level and repeatable manner.
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Medical education is witnessing changes across the globe to produce more competent and responsive medical graduates to meet patients’ growing needs. Medical educators are aspiring for more objective and relevant assessment methods for the evaluation of medical graduates. Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) introduced in the year 1975 for clinical evaluation has gone through many changes over the past 45 years and matured over time. The article describes the challenges of OSCE as a tool in medical assessment from students’ and organizers’ perspectives. We have also suggested a feasible solution to address the challenges while conducting OSCE to assess medical students.
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Introduction : The Graduate Medical Education Regulation (GMR) 2019 in the curricular reforms recommends that “Shows How” level of the Miller's Pyramid is assessed through long case, Objective Structured Clinical Examination and Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini CEX). Objectives : 1. To utilize OSCE for assessing Field Visits carried out by Undergraduate medical students as formative assessment. 2. To find out the feasibility and effectiveness of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in Community Medicine. Method : An Educational Innovation Pilot Project was carried out in the department rdof Community Medicine of a Medical College in India. A pilot (18) of 3 MBBS students were assessed through Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for epidemiological case study of malaria assigned to the author faculty. These students were also exposed to the oral viva. The analysis of the assessment was through assessment of codes of the procedure stations through checklists and mean scores of procedure and response stations. Qualitative analysis of emerging themes and quantitative analysis as likert scale were utilized for evaluation of the exam were used. Results : The mean score of all response stations was 5.1. Almost all students felt that OSCE was better than the conventional oral viva in assessing skills. Furthermore, almost all students and faculties suggested that it should gradually become a part of curriculum and scaled to entire and other batches with suggested modifications. The residents who participated as simulated cases found it to be a novel experience and a different kind of learning process. Conclusion : It is feasible to introduce OSCE with some modifications in assessing skills acquired in field visits in Community Case Management
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Objective:To study the application effect of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)-based situational simulation case teaching on Nursing Fundamentals practical training. Methods:Using convenient sampling method, two undergraduate nursing classes of Batch 2018 in Hubei University of Chinese Medicine were chosen as the study objects. They were divided into observation group with 45 students and control group with 43 students through ball touching method. The control group used traditional teaching method, on this basis, the observation group used OSCE-based situational simulation case teaching. At the end of the semester, the results of theoretical assessment, operational skills assessment, humanistic care, health education achievements of the two groups of nursing students and students’ evaluation of the new teaching method in the observation group. SPSS 22.0 was used for t test. Results:The sores of theoretical assessment, operational skills and humanistic care assessment in the observation group were (81.01±8.53), (92.69±3.87) and (11.73±1.59), and the corresponding sores in control group were (76.94±9.74), (91.21±2.70) and (10.79±1.36). The nursing students in the observation group had significantly higher scores than the control group in above mentioned aspects ( P<0.05). In the observation group, 45 students (100.0%) believed that this teaching method could stimulate learning interest and comprehensively deal with clinical problems, 43 students (95.6%) thought that this teaching method could improve team cooperation ability, only one person (2.2%) did not agree that this teaching method could help to form critical thinking, and 42 students (93.3%) said that the teaching hours of this teaching method could be appropriately increased. Conclusion:The OSCE-based situational simulation case teaching may effectively improve the teaching quality of the nursing students and mobilize their learning activities.
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Objective:To master the 2018 annual oral operation skills assessment of dental standardized residency training trainees, to explore the weak links in the process of the dental residency training, and to provide data support and scientific basis for improving the teaching of clinical skills for dental residency training in the future.Methods:The results of 2018 annual oral operating skills examination of dental standardized residency training trainees in the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Nanchang University were collected, the data were sorted by excel and analyzed statistically by SPSS 22.0, and independent sample t test was performed for univariate analysis. Results:The tooth preparation expert results and the scores of cavity preparation expert process in Batch 2017 were higher than those in Batch 2016 [(23.72±2.13) scores vs. (25.82±1.53) scores], and the cavity preparation results of Batch 2017 [(21.08±3.13) scores] were lower than those of Batch 2016 [(23.36±2.32) scores]. The scores of social trainees in the process of tooth preparation [(24.59±2.03) points] were lower than those of the professional postgraduates [(26.29±1.64) points], and the results were all statistically significant ( P<0.05). The three lowest scores of each item in different grades and status types were almost the same. Conclusion:Different grades and different status categories have different scores in different operation items and different score indicators, which suggests that the dental standardized residency training should focus on the weak items and the indicators with lowest scores of each item, so as to make up the shortage and improve the quality of standardized residency training.
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Also, the majority of doctors trained in Ukraine provide medical assistance worldwide, which is evidence of an outstanding level of medical education in Ukraine. Quite a few students from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa entered medical schools in Ukraine due to inexpensive tuition. The fact that those graduates served in various countries assures the global standard of medical education in Ukraine.
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Objective:To analyze the application effect of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessment mode in the training of neurosurgery specialist nurses.Methods:Using convenience sampling method, 21 trainees who were trained in neurosurgery specialist nurse training base of Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School in 2018 were selected as the control group, and the conventional training methods of theory and clinical practice were adopted; the 22 trainees in 2019 were selected as the experimental group, and the OSCE training and assessment mode was adopted. After the training, the core competence, satisfaction, learning and growth of the trainees were compared.Results:There was no significant difference in the score of the core competence before the training between the two groups( P>0.05). After the training, the scores of professional skills, critical and difficult medical record management and professional quality were (4.55 ± 0.51), (4.14 ± 0.77), (4.36 ± 0.66) points in the experimental group and (3.90 ± 0.62), (3.62 ± 0.80), (3.76 ± 0.83) points in the control group, the differences were statistically significant ( t=3.69, 2.15, 2.64, all P<0.05). The total score of satisfaction was (66.82 ± 2.26) points in the experimental group and (62.05 ± 2.29) points in the control group, the difference was statistically significant ( t=6. 87, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the learning and growth of the trainees before and after the training between the two groups ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Using OSCE assessment mode to carry out neurosurgery specialist nurse training is helpful to improve students′ professional skills, critical and difficult medical record management, professional quality, and improve students′ satisfaction with the training.
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Objective:To study the effect of micro-course teaching combined with teacher standardized patient combined with objective structured clinical examination (TSP/OSCE) on clinical practice teaching of pediatric nursing.Methods:Forty nurses who performed clinical practice in Pediatrics Department from February 2019 to July 2019 were selected as the control group, and traditional teaching was adopted in the group. In addition, 42 nurses who performed clinical practice in Pediatrics Department from August 2019 to January 2020 were selected as the research group, and the micro-course teaching combined with TSP/OSCE mode teaching was adopted in the group. Two groups of nurses' theoretical and practical skills assessment results were analyzed, and a questionnaire survey was conducted to assess nurses' satisfaction with the teaching of pediatric nursing clinical practice training mode. SPSS 22.0 was used for t test and chi-square test. Results:The research group nurses' theoretical and practical skills assessment scores were better than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant ( P=0.000).The nurses in the research group were more satisfied than those in the control group with such eight aspects as improving practical skills, emergency response capabilities, humanistic care and service capabilities, communication skills, and stimulating their interest in nursing learning. There were statistically significant differences ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The use of micro-teaching combined with TSP/OSCE mode in the clinical practice teaching of pediatric nursing can improve nurses' clinical practice ability and increase nurses' satisfaction in pediatric training.
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Objective:To explore the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) on the improvement of clinical competence of stomatology undergraduates, and to promote their ability and skills of taking the National Medical Licensing Examination (NMLE).Methods:The OSCE was implemented to evaluate the clinical skills of stomatology undergraduates from Batch 2009 to Batch 2012. The OSCE results were analyzed and compared with the NMLE (Stomatology) results on the correlation coefficient analysis of annual passing rate.Results:The passing rate of practical skills in the NMLE (Stomatology) of Batch 2009 to Batch 2012 stomatology undergraduates was basically consistent with the excellent rate of OSCE, and the correlation coefficient was 0.94.Conclusion:It has not been proved that the OSCE assessment organized by our school can increase the passing rate of practical skills in the NMLE, but it has certainly helped students better understand and apply theoretical knowledge, and it plays a positive role in promoting students' future development.
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Los problemas de oído, nariz y garganta son un motivo frecuente de consulta en Atención Primaria. Numerosos estudios han reportado que los médicos de Atención Primaria perciben una capacitación insuficiente en el manejo de estos problemas. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar las competencias en el diagnóstico y tratamiento de problemas prevalentes de Otorrinolaringología de médicos residentes de Atención Primaria en un hospital universitario, en Buenos Aires, Argentina, mediante la implementación de un examen clínico objetivo estructurado. Participaron 25 residentes, de Pediatría (7), de Medicina Interna (10) y de Medicina Familiar (8). Los de Medicina Familiar y Pediatría tuvieron mejor desempeño que los de Medicina Interna. Los residentes de Atención Primaria demostraron competencias disímiles en el manejo de problemas prevalentes de Otorrinolaringología. Se detectaron áreas de oportunidad de mejora comunes para los tres grupos, que proporcionaron dirección y motivación en futuros aprendizajes, tanto en conocimientos como en habilidades.
Ear, nose and throat problems are very common in Primary Care settings. Numerous studies have reported that Primary Care physicians feel dissatisfied with their performance and insufficient training to diagnose and manage these problems. The objective of this study was to assess the competency in diagnosis and management of prevalent ear, nose and throat problems in medical residents of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at a University Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination. The participants were 25 residents of Pediatrics (7), Internal Medicine (10) and Family Medicine (8). Residents of Family Medicine and Pediatrics showed better performance than residents of Internal Medicine. Residents of Primary Care demonstrated dissimilar competencies in the management of prevalent ear, nose and throat problems. Areas of common improvement opportunities were detected for the three groups, which provided direction and motivation in future learnings in both knowledge and skills.
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Humans , Otolaryngology , Primary Health Care , Clinical Competence , Education, Medical , Medical Staff, HospitalABSTRACT
Objective: This study aimed to explore and describe the sixth level nursing students’ perception regarding the use of OSCE assessment approach. Specifically, it investigated the students’ perception in terms of preparation, quality, and organization, format, validity, and reliability of OSCE. Methods: Observational study design of 50 female nursing students was utilized in this study. The OSCE consisted of 10 stations; the students’ perceptions about OSCE were evaluated using a structured questionnaire. Data were related to the organization of the OSCE measured by scoring scale Likert-scale questionnaires and Pierre, et al., questionnaire 2004. For the purpose of this study, only 18 items of the questionnaire were used to measure the preparation, quality and organization, format, validity, and reliability of OSCE. Results: The majority of students provided positive feedback about the OSCE quality attributes and organization, and provided positive feedback about the OSCE format, validity, and reliability. Results revealed that there is a positive and direct significant correlation between using OSCE sessions in training and OSCE examination. Conclusion: OSCE is a meaningful, fair, useful and an acceptable method for evaluating the nursing students’ clinical performance because of various positive specifications such as objectivity and fairness. Relevance to clinical practice: There is a far reaching understanding for clinical learning as it has a focal significance in nursing training. Compelling clinical stations are fundamental to turning into a skillful expert nursing caretaker. Learning in the nursing clinical area gives present reality to nursing students to build up the information, abilities, dispositions, and skills.
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Introducción: La Radiología de Urgencias es una unidad de aprendizaje longitudinal a toda la residencia. En ella los residentes se enfrentan a patología de urgencia en distintas modalidades de imagen. Además del dominio cognitivo, los residentes deben desarrollar habilidades de comunicación y colaboración que les permitan enfrentar adecuadamente los turnos de residencia. Previo a incorporarse a los turnos nocturnos, los residentes deben aprobar un Examen Clínico Objetivo Estructurado (ECOE). Propósito: Evaluar competencias de comunicación y colaboración a través de estaciones de ECOE de Radiología de Urgencias aplicado a residentes de 2º año de residencia. Metodología: Se seleccionaron objetivos específicos a evaluar para las competencias de comunicación y colaboración y contenidos de Radiología Abdominal, Osteoarticular y Pediátrica para diseñar tres estaciones de ECOE, las cuales fueron incorporadas en el instrumento de evaluación aplicado el año 2017. Se calcularon porcentajes de logro por estación y tipo de pauta de evaluación. Para evaluar la implementación de las estaciones, se diseñó y aplicó una encuesta de percepción a los residentes. Resultados: Se diseñaron tres estaciones, dos para el rol Comunicador y una para el rol Colaborador. La validez de contenido se aseguró a través de un panel de expertos. Los porcentajes de logro global en las estaciones fluctuaron entre 74,7% y 95,6%. Las estaciones fueron bien evaluadas por parte de los residentes, quienes valoraron la incorporación de competencias diferentes al dominio cognitivo en el instrumento de evaluación. Conclusión: El ECOE permite certificar habilidades transversales como comunicación y colaboración de manera apropiada
Introduction: Emergency radiology (ER) is taught and learned throughout the entire residency. Trainees are exposed to different subspecialties ER cases and through varied imaging techniques. In addition to the "medical expert" domain, residents must develop communication and collaboration skills that will help them during their call schedule. Before they can take night-call, radiology residents must pass an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Purpose: To evaluate communication and collaboration competencies on an ER-OSCE applied to second-year radiology residents. Methods: Specific learning objectives were defined to evaluate communication and collaboration skills in abdominal, musculoskeletal and pediatric ER. Three OSCE stations were designed for this purpose and added to the evaluation instrument in 2017. On each station, resident performance was assessed with a specific template and percentage of goal achievement was calculated. Trainee´s opinion of this new modality was obtained through a perception survey. Results: Three stations were designed, two for the communicator role and one for the collaborator competency. Validity of content confirmed through an expert panel. Percentages of goal achievement on each station varied between 74,7% and 96,6. The new stations were positively evaluated by residents, which valued that competencies other than "medical expert" were being assessed. Conclusion: ER-OSCE allows the appropriate assessment of generic competencies such as communication and collaboration in radiology.
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Humans , Radiology/education , Students, Medical/psychology , Communication , Educational Measurement/methods , Emergency Medicine/education , Chile , Surveys and Questionnaires , Clinical Competence , Cooperative Behavior , Internship and ResidencyABSTRACT
Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is an important assessment method for examining clinical thinking and clinical skills of medical students. OSCE has been applied in the quarterly phase examination in our department. According to the characteristics of otolaryngology, three stations of common items and five stations for personalized tests were set in the assessment. According to the different training that residents received during their stay in the previous department, different contents were assessed in the station for personalized examination. During the OSCE, residents took turns entering into each examine station and teachers gave scores according to the marking criteria of different station. After the examinations, two-way assessment and feedback were conducted between students and teachers. Through the practice in standardized training of residents in recent years, we found that OSCE was more comprehensive and flexible than others, which gained good application effects.
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Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is an important assessment method for examining clinical thinking and clinical skills of medical students. OSCE has been applied in the quarterly phase examination in our department. According to the characteristics of otolaryngology, three stations of common items and five stations for personalized tests were set in the assessment. According to the different training that residents received during their stay in the previous department , different contents were assessed in the station for personalized examination. During the OSCE, residents took turns entering into each examine station and teachers gave scores according to the marking criteria of different station. After the examinations, two-way assessment and feedback were conducted between students and teachers. Through the practice in standardized training of residents in recent years, we found that OSCE was more comprehensive and flexible than others, which gained good application effects.
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Objective To explore the application effect of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) combined with standardized patients (SP) in the clinical practice assessment of standardized residenncy training. Methods A total of 97 clinical internal medical graduates from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University who participated in resident training from August 2016 to August 2017 were selected as the subjects, and they were divided into group A (48 cases) and group B (49 cases) according to the random number table. The standardized training course was 2 years, at the end of the first year of training, OSCE+SP model was used in group A for the examination, and group B was examined by traditional mode. After the 2nd year of training, the examination was again carried out, and the assessment models were exchanged between the A and B groups. The differences in various abilities and total scores of two groups were compared and analyzed statistically. Results In the first examination, the ability of collecting and analyzing medical history, physical examination ability, clinical skill operation ability, clinical thinking ability and total score of group A were significantly higher than those of group B (ability of collecting and analyzing medical history scores: 24.9±2.9 vs. 22.9±2.4, physical exam ability scores: 11.0±1.3 vs.10.0±1.3, clinical skill operation ability scores: 21.3±2.0 vs.19.9±2.2, clinical thinking ability scores: 72.0±7.2 vs. 66.8±13.8, total score:72.9±4.7 vs. 68.0±3.1, all P < 0.05). In the second exam, the ability of collecting and analyzing medical history, physical exam ability, clinical skill operation ability, clinical thinking ability and total score of group A were significantly lower than those of group B (ability of collecting and analyzing medical history score: 23.1±2.4 vs. 25.0±2.7, physical exam ability score: 10.4±1.3 vs. 11.2±1.3, clinical skill operation ability score: 20.1±2.4 vs. 21.4±2.2, clinical thinking ability score: 69.1±6.4 vs. 72.2±8.0, total score: 68.9±3.8 vs. 73.4±4.6, all P < 0.05). The results of variance analysis of two-stage interactive design showed that the new assessment model was the main factor that caused the statistical significant differences in medical students' examination results between the two groups (P < 0.05). Conclusion The new OSCE+SP model can more promote the improvement of medical students' achievements, benefit medical students from textbook theory entering into clinical practice, help resident doctors elevate their self comprehensive competency, and meet the requirements of medical development under the new national situation.
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Objective To design and conduct objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in professional postgraduates in obstetrics and gynecology, and to investigate the improvement measures for the teaching of professional postgraduates in obstetrics and gynecology by analyzing the performance of postgraduates in OSCE. Methods In October 2017, OSCE was performed for postgraduates in obstetrics and gynecology in the classes of 2016 and 2017 to evaluate their clinical ability. This OSCE consisted of the following four aspects: inquiry of standardized patients, basic practical skills in obstetrics and gynecology, utilization and interpretation of auxiliary examinations, and case analysis. The postgraduates were scored according to the following six items: doctor-patient communication skills, completeness of inquiry, basic practical skills in obstetrics and gynecology, utilization of auxiliary examinations, competence of clinical thinking, and mastery of medical knowledge. SPSS 18.0 was used for statistical analysis, and the t-test was used for comparison between groups . Results A total of 27 postgraduates participated in this OSCE . Among the six scoring items, completeness of inquiry had the lowest score (78 ±6), and utilization of auxiliary examinations had the highest score (85±3). Among the 27 postgraduates, 7 (25.9％) lacked doctor-patient communication skills, 6 (22.2％) showed serious problems in basic practical skills in obstetrics and gynecology, and 6 (22.2％) lacked the scientific thinking of clinical diagnosis. Conclusion In the training of professional postgraduate students in obstetrics and gynecology, doctor-patient communication skills and clinical thinking should be emphasized, and basic clinical skill training should be strengthened.
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PURPOSE: The biases that may influence objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) scoring are well understood, and recent research has attempted to establish the magnitude of their impact. However, the influence of examiner experience, clinical seniority, and occupation on communication and physical examination scores in OSCEs has not yet been clearly established. METHODS: We compared the mean scores awarded for generic and clinical communication and physical examination skills in 2 undergraduate medicine OSCEs in relation to examiner characteristics (gender, examining experience, occupation, seniority, and speciality). The statistical significance of the differences was calculated using the 2-tailed independent t-test and analysis of variance. RESULTS: Five hundred and seventeen students were examined by 237 examiners at the University of New South Wales in 2014 and 2016. Examiner gender, occupation (academic, clinician, or clinical tutor), and job type (specialist or generalist) did not significantly impact scores. Junior doctors gave consistently higher scores than senior doctors in all domains, and this difference was statistically significant for generic and clinical communication scores. Examiner experience was significantly inversely correlated with generic communication scores. CONCLUSION: We suggest that the assessment of examination skills may be less susceptible to bias because this process is fairly prescriptive, affording greater scoring objectivity. We recommend training to define the marking criteria, teaching curriculum, and expected level of performance in communication skills to reduce bias in OSCE assessment.
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Humans , Australia , Awards and Prizes , Bias , Curriculum , New South Wales , Occupations , Physical ExaminationABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Our school introduced a new curriculum based on faculty-directed, intensive, small-group teaching of clinical skills in the third-year medical students. To examine its effects, we compared the mean scores on an OSCE between the third- and fourth-year medical students. METHODS: Third- and fourth-year students did rotations at the same five OSCE stations. They then completed a brief self-reporting questionnaire survey to examine the degree of satisfaction with new curriculum in the third-year students and clinical practice in the fourth-year students, as well as their perception of confidence and preparedness. We analyzed the OSCE data obtained from 158 students, 133 of whom also completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: Mean OSCE scores on the breast examination and wet smear stations were significantly higher in the third-year group (P < 0.001). But mean OSCE scores of motor-sensory examination and lumbar puncture were significantly higher in the fourth-year group (P < 0.05). The mean OSCE scores had no significant correlation with satisfaction. In addition, the self-ratings of confidence had a high degree of correlation with satisfaction with new curriculum (r = 0.673) and clinical practice (r = 0.692). Furthermore, there was a moderate degree of correlation between satisfaction and preparedness in both groups (r = 0.403 and 0.449). CONCLUSIONS: There is no significant difference in the effect on the degree of clinical performance and confidence between an intensive-small group teaching and a 1-year clinical practice. If combined, intensive small group teaching and clinical practice would be useful to improve the degree of ability and confidence in medical students.