فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Introduction: Assessment for practical skills in medical education needs improvement fromsubjective methods to objective ones. An Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE)has been considered as one such method. This study is an attempt to evaluate the feasibilityof using OSPE as a tool for the formative assessment of undergraduate medical educationin pharmacology. Materials and Methods: Students of second year MBBS, at the end of thefirst term, were assessed by both the conventional practical examination and the ObjectiveStructured Practical Examination (OSPE). A five‑station OSPE was conducted one week afterthe conventional examination. The scores obtained in both were compared and a Bland Altmanplot was also used for comparison of the two methods. Perceptions of students regarding thenew method were obtained using a questionnaire. Results: There was no significant differencein the mean scores between the two methods (P = 0.44) using the unpaired t test. The BlandAltman plot comparing the CPE (conventional practical examination) with the OSPE showed that96% of the differences in the scores between OSPE and CPE were within the acceptable limitof 1.96 SD. Regarding the students’ perceptions of OSPE compared to CPE, 73% respondedthat OSPE could partially or completely replace CPE. OSPE was judged as an objective andunbiased test as compared to CPE, by 66.4% of the students. Conclusion: Use of OSPE isfeasible for formative assessment in the undergraduate pharmacology curriculum.