Impacting Faculty Teaching and Student Performance: Nine Years' Experience With the Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Background: The impetus for administering the 2nd-year Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) came from the great variability in student performance observed by 3rd-year clerkship directors. Purpose: To document the effects of the OSCE on faculty teaching, student performance, and the curriculum over 9 years of administration of the examinations to more than 1,000 second-year medical students. Method: A 20-station OSCE was administered to all medical students at the end of their 2nd year. Using predetermined criteria, clinical faculty served as evaluators in each station. A mix of 1st-, 3rd-, and 4th-year medical students were recruited to serve as simulated patients. Faculty evaluators and examinees completed a questionnaire evaluating their experience with the OSCE. Students received a report card of their performance. Small-group leaders of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course received feedback on their group's performance on each station compared to the class mean. Summative data on ...