Introducing the objective structured clinical examination to a general practice residency programme: results of a French pilot study

OSCE for evaluating clinical competence still remains limited in France. Th is study presents the results of the first experimental use of an OSCE as a formative assessment of French general practice trainees. Fifty trainees r otated through a circuit of 15 standardized patient-based OSCE cases. Diffe rences in scores were determined by analysis of variance. Reliability was c alculated with the coefficient alpha. Pearson correlations were used to det ermine the relationship between station scores and overall OSCE score. Writ ten questionnaires based on Likert-type scales were used to measure OSCE fe asibility. No difference was found between total session scores. Significan t item-total score correlations were found for 12 of the 15 clinical proble ms. The reliability of the examination was 0.58. Most participants agreed t hat the clinical situations were realistic, simulated patients were believa ble and sampling of cases was representative of general practice. These dat a confirm the feasibility of OSCE in assessing performance of general pract ice trainees. Optimal training of observers should improve examination reli ability. This study warrants further development to confirm its usefulness as a summative assessment tool.