How to Implement Computer-Based Applied Didactic Exams (OSCE) as Part of the Assessment of Clinical Competence - R. Todd Watkins Jr., Angela Broome, Linc J. Conn Jr. & V. Wallace McCarlie

How to Implement Computer-Based Applied Didactic Exams (OSCE) as Part of the Assessment of Clinical Competence

By R. Todd Watkins Jr., Angela Broome, Linc J. Conn Jr. & V. Wallace McCarlie

  • Release Date: 2016-09-02
  • Genre: Education

Description

This manual is for programs and faculty members who want to move into advanced assessment techniques. This will be difficult for beginners and the techniques require informatics support and content experts working as a team
Assessing clinical competence is not simple and cannot be performed using one technique. For clinical dentistry, the transition from novice to practitioner involves basic knowledge, the ability to apply knowledge to clinical situations, and performance of diagnostic and surgical skills. All of these are integrated, because the performance of skills requires a working capability of knowing why the procedure is needed and how to perform clinical problem solving during the performance. 
This manual is focused on the difficult intermediate area of health science education between the basic didactic knowledge (usually assessed with multiple-choice) and clinical performance (usually assessed with rubric-based skills assessments). This intermediate step involves the application of knowledge to clinical situations. In many health science schools, the instruction is performed with seminars and Case-Based Learning sessions. Assessment is performed with Applied Didactic Instruments. These instruments can take many different forms from station-based Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCE) to oral exams evaluated with rubrics. 
This manual will focus on a specific implementation of Applied Didactic Instruments (at East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine) using a computer interface which is used to drastically increase the number of these assessments possible. In traditional OSCEs the scale is difficult. The assembly of clinical stations is time-consuming and difficult to scale to multiple areas of the curriculum. If there is something to keep in mind during this manual, understand that the goal is to integrate these assessments in as many courses as is possible and as early as possible in the curriculum. A special section of this manual was created to discuss how 3-D images can be embedded directly into questions to avoid the use of stations for casts and dentoforms.