MedEdPORTAL (Oct 2013)
Critical Synthesis Package: Objective Structured Teaching Exercise (OSTE) in Faculty Feedback Skills
Abstract
Abstract This Critical Synthesis Package contains: (1) a Critical Analysis of the psychometric properties and the application to health science education of the Objective Structured Teaching Exercise (OSTE) in Faculty Feedback Skills, and (2) a copy of the OSTE in Faculty Feedback Skills instrument as well as the Development and Scoring Guide developed by Mark E. Quirk, EdD. The OSTE in Faculty Feedback Skills is a performance-based instrument for evaluating faculty development efforts in giving learner feedback. The instrument of comprised of two sets of items. The first set is a checklist on which the standardized student indicates whether or not the faculty preceptor performed during the OSTE encounter. The second checklist includes substantive content categories measuring feedback of communication skills, medical skills, action planning, and learner's perceptions and feelings. A holistic rating of the preceptor's performance is assessed via five items on a 5-point Likert scale. As with any tool, there are potential aspects in which this tool could be improved. Standardized students appear to be more reliable but less valid alternatives to trained raters or faculty experts in an OSTE. The current reliability may be tolerable if the assessment is used for the purpose of identifying preceptors in need of remedial training. Trained graduate-student raters may be a better alternative when OSTE results are used as a basis for selecting faculty preceptors for rewards, certifying teaching competence or other high stakes evaluations. Higher numbers of cases could increase the reliability of the instrument, thus allowing it to be used for broader purposes in the faculty development of clinical preceptors. One of the major strengths of this instrument is the extent to which change in skill over time can be assessed. As it becomes used more broadly, use in this manner may offer further evidence to its validity.
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