What descriptors are used by clinicians when assessing their peers in an OSCE

What descriptors are used by clinicians when assessing their peers in an OSCE? The General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK has been using an OSCE as part of their assessment of poorly performing doctors for the last 10 years. Since 2006 these assessments have been updated and validated by 163 volunteer doctors who have all performed a 12 station OSCE. Using data obtained during these assessments we have analysed the words used to describe levels of performance to help develop anchor statements for use in future assessments. Each OSCE station is scored on a 3-point scale (acceptable - A, cause for concern - C or unacceptable - U) for all items and an overall judgement. The clinicians examining the OSCE were asked to write brief comments supporting their ratings. All the mark sheets were reviewed, written comments transferred to a database and grouped under each of the categories A, C and U. Three raters independently analysed the comments to develop emergent themes, then reviewed them together and agreed on five themes: 1. knowledge 2. communication skills 3. attitude 4. clinical/technical skill 5. overall management/diagnosis The three raters independently, then collectively, coded all the comments to one of these five themes. Results We will present the frequency of each theme by category (i.e. A, C or U) including variations of descriptors between specialties. The range of vocabulary will be explored; words that are used specifically for each category or used to describe both good and poor performance will be analysed. These descriptors will then be used to develop anchor statements to help ensure consistency for future examiners in the assessment of poorly performing doctors