A training programme by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) has equipped medical professionals with the knowledge to develop sophisticated practical examinations to comprehensively assess the skills of trainee physicians.
The course showed physician-educators from WCM-Q and Hamad Medical Corporation how to design and conduct an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The OSCE utilises ‘standardised patients’— trained actors who play the role of patients — to create a lifelike simulated learning environment in which the clinician is tasked with conducting a thorough medical examination.
This teaches the assessment of core practical skills such as how to take a medical history, check vital signs, perform various physical examinations to determine the health of the patient, and communicate effectively with a patient, among other competencies.
The course was delivered by WCM-Q’s Division of Continuing Professional Development and other WCM-Q faculty and staff in the college’s Clinical Skills Centre.
In five sessions over six weeks, the course provided 15 participants with the skills to design and deliver a comprehensive OSCE programme to maximise learning outcomes and ensure effective assessment, such as how to set clear programme objectives, write cases, devise appropriate checklists and scoring systems, give effective feedback to learners after assessment and train standardised patients.
WCM-Q’s Dr Dora Stadler, clinical assistant professor of Medicine, and Deema al-Sheikhly, director of continuing professional development, directed the course.
Facilitators and participants of the OSCE training programme.
