Dental Students' and Examiner perceptions of an OSCE in the DDS programme in Trinidad

ABSTRACT

Objective: The School of Dentistry introduced an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in 2014 for Year 3 students in its Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) programme, designed to ensure patient care competency. The objective of the study was to determine student and examiner perceptions of thedental OSCE which takes place in Year 3 Semester I. Design and Methodology: All year 3 dental students (n=27) and examiners (n=14) took part in the study. Following ethical approval, a cross-sectional survey method was used. Data were collected on structured questionnaires administered to students and examiners to obtain their perceptions of the OSCE stations which included History taking, Examination of a patient, Radiographic examination, Basic Life Support and six other specialty stations. Results: Student survey Fifteen (15) students (55.6%) agreed that the OSCE was fair and 73.1% agreed they were well organized. However, only 55.6% thought there was sufficient time. Nearly 75% felt the OSCE was representative of real clinical scenarios but only 48.1% agreed it was valid in terms of assessing clinical competence. Examiner Survey Nearly 93% of examiners thought their OSCE station was well organized and that the time allocated was sufficient. One hundred percent (100%) agreed that their OSCE station was fair, a good assessment of the students' competency to begin seeing patients and that the OSCE was a valid form of assessing clinical competence. Conclusion: While less than half of students thought that the OSCE was valid in terms of assessing clinical competence, all of the Examiners thought that it was valid. The discrepancy between student and examiner perceptions needs further investigation.