An osce without boundaries: Rapid development of a geriatrics virtual objective structured clinical exam

Background: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) play an important role in medical education, providing an opportunity to assess learners across multiple domains and offer realtime feedback For 7 years, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH) has conducted a monthly Geriatrics OSCE for Internal Medicine & Neurology residents, fellows in Geriatric Medicine & Psychiatry, pharmacy residents, and VA Geriatric Scholars from multiple disciplines When the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated both social distancing and rapid adoption of telemedicine for patient care, an opportunity arose to adapt the existing OSCE exercise to a virtual format that concurrently assessed telemedicine competencies To date, no published data exists regarding the feasibility and utility of virtual OSCE experiences in Geriatrics Methods: The interdisciplinary team (IDT) of educators collaborated with the UWMSPH Clinical Training and Assessment Center (CTAC) to identify a virtual OSCE (vOSCE) platform, adapt the cases for a virtual encounter, and include assessments of telemedicine skills The IDT collected data about participant demographics and station completion The team also compared mean performance of the vOSCE trainees in each station with that of participants in the previous live OSCE exercises Results: As of January 2021, 30 learners have participated in the Geriatrics vOSCE Trainees encompassed four disciplines and spanned levels of training from residents to practicing providers Learners have participated remotely from four different US states, and no technical difficulties prevented completion of any stations Data regarding mean scores on the vOSCE versus the OSCE scores and telemedicine competencies will be presented Conclusions: Conversion of a live OSCE in Geriatrics to a virtual format is feasible and provides an opportunity to evaluate learners safely and effectively while practicing social distancing Given that learners can participate from anywhere with a reliable internet connection and a device with audio and video capabilities, the Geriatrics vOSCE could provide opportunities to enhance geriatrics & telemedicine skills and knowledge for learners from across the country, including in areas where access to geriatrics-trained providers is limited