Reliability and Validity of OSCE in Evaluating Clinical Skills of emergency Medicine Students of Birjand university of Medical Sciences

Clinical education is an integrated component of medical education program. Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) is one of the best educational evaluations of clinical competence. The present study was designed to determine the reliability and validity of OSCE in evaluating clinical skills of emergency medical students. In this descriptive-correlational study, twelve skills were evaluated by means of a checklist. 39 students performed these skills in 12 OSCE stations. In each station, an experienced inspector evaluated the skills matching them to the checklist. Validity was measured according to the correlation coefficient between OSCE scores and the theoretical and clinical performance scores of students, and reliability based on the correlation coefficient between scores reported by inspectors in two stations. The obtained data was analyzed by means of SPSS (version 15) at the significant level P<0.05. The correlation coefficient of OSCE scores and mean theoretical and clinical performance scores and total average scores were 0.46 (P=0.003), 0.61, and 0.56 (P<0.001), respectively. The highest and lowest correlation coefficient was 0.54, and 0.08 respectively in the two stations; i.e. log roll maneuver and hemorrhage control. Correlation coefficient between scores of those two inspectors at shock evaluation and respiratory resuscitation stations were 0.97 and 0.68 (P<0.001), respectively. OSCE is suggested as a reliable and valid method to evaluate the clinical skills of medical emergency students in all wards