UNIFORM EXPERIENCE AND ASSESSMENT DURING A MULTISITE SURGICAL CLERKSHIP

Major changes in health care delivery and the increased number of cler kship sites used for teaching by many medical schools has resulted in significant implications for medical education. Methods have become ne cessary to achieve and maintain a comparable clinical experience and a uniform assessment process at each teaching site. Following a review of existing practices, a new core curriculum, a problem-based approach and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) were introdu ced into this department. Over 1200 students have passed through this revised surgical clerkship over the past 8 years. The introduction of the OSCE has helped to direct student learning, provide an objective a ssessment to complement the ward grade, and enabled an audit of teachi ng and learning to be carried out. In one group of 103 students no sig nificant correlation was found between the OSCE and ward grades. Perfo rmance at different hospitals was similar and those carrying out their clerkship later in the academic year benefited from their previous ot her attachments. The OSCE has enabled immediate feedback to be given t o learners as well as providing teachers with an opportunity to see fo r themselves the outcome of their tuition. A clinical performance reco rd card has now been introduced to improve the monitoring of students' clinical experience.