Continuous Assessment through Objective Structured Clinical Examinations in Veterinary Clinical Propaedeutics.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of veterinary students to the use of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as a method for continuous assessment of the acquisition of clinical skills related to the physical examination of animals. Students undertook fortnightly two OSCE throughout a semester, after what an anonymous electronic survey was distributed before the final written exam. The results of the questionnaire indicated that students show a good attitude to being assessed frequently by OSCEs, furthermore, it also helped them not only to study and practice more regularly, but as they were told in advance in what they will be assessed on, it also helped them to be more focus on during teaching time. Furthermore, they encouraged the maintenance of the assessment method for following year and also provided some suggestions for improvement. It is therefore concluded that students show a positive attitude to continuous assessment by OSCE, which has an impact not only on the students’ learning behavior, but also on the use of teaching hours. Furthermore, students are delighted to provide feedback also on the assessment methodology, providing sometimes an insight that could have gone unnoticed to faculty, and hence their opinion should be requested.

Keywords

• Evaluation
• Clinical skills
• Students’ opinion
• Competence
• Clinical education