Pharmacy Students’ Perception and Evaluation of Objective Structured Clinical Examination: Near East University Experience

Background: Pharmacy educators have always been desirous of the best methods for formative and summative evaluation of trainees. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is an approach for student assessment in which aspects of clinical competence are evaluated in a comprehensive, consistent, and structured manner. Though recently become popular in pharmacy schools globally, its use in North Cyprus and Turkey pharmacy schools appears limited.

Objectives: To assess pharmacy students’ evaluation and overall perception of OSCE.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on pharmacy students, who participated in the final OSCE examination in 2015-2016.The study sample consisted of fifth-year Pharmacy students who took the OSCE assessment during their studies. A24-item self-administered structured questionnaire was employed to obtain relevant data on OSCE evaluation in terms of content reliability and structure of the examination. Students’ responses were based on a 4-point Likert scales ranging from disagree to no comment. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 22.

Results: Of 81 eligible students, 74 completed self- administered questionnaire representing 91.35% response rate. A total of 68(90.7%) students agreed that wide knowledge area and clinical skills were covered in the exam. Over 80% of the students saw that OSCE besides it provided them with an opportunity to learn real life scenario, it was well administered and run in the faculty and better organized compared to a previous pilot OSCE (68%). Around 77% of the students saw that 7 minutes time allocated per station was adequate, while a close percentage also agreed that standardized patients were competent in their role playing. Majority of students though they identify that OSCEs highlighted areas of weakness in their skills and knowledge but still disagree with incorporating OSCEs marks into final marks and thus prefer it as an formative assessment.

Conclusions: Students highly perceived the exam feeling that it is more resembles actual practice providing them with self-confidence, and more clearly their defects and what they need to improve regarding both skills and knowledge. They saw OSCEs as being a beneficial formative assessment that should not be included as marks into finals.