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Can student tutors act as examiners in an objective structured clinical examination?
Med Educ. 2007 Nov; 41(11):1032-8.ME

Abstract

CONTEXT

The dissemination of objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) is hampered by requirements for high levels of staffing and a significantly higher workload compared with multiple-choice examinations. Senior medical students may be able to support faculty staff to assess their peers. The aim of this study is to assess the reliability of student tutors as OSCE examiners and their acceptance by their peers.

METHODS

Using a checklist and a global rating, teaching doctors (TDs) and student tutors (STs) simultaneously assessed students in basic clinical skills at 4 OSCE stations. The inter-rater agreement between TDs and STs was calculated by kappa values and paired t-tests. Students then completed a questionnaire to assess their acceptance of student peer examiners.

RESULTS

All 214 Year 3 students at the University of Göttingen Medical School were evaluated in spring 2005. Student tutors gave slightly better average grades than TDs (differences of 0.02-0.20 on a 5-point Likert scale). Inter-rater agreement at the stations ranged from 0.41 to 0.64 for checklist assessment and global ratings; overall inter-rater agreement on the final grade was 0.66. Most students felt that assessment by STs would result in the same grades as assessment by TDs (64%) and that it would be similarly objective (69%). Nearly all students (95%) felt confident that they could evaluate their peers themselves in an OSCE.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of our results, STs can act as examiners in summative OSCEs to assess basic medical skills. The slightly better grades observed are of no practical concern. Students accepted assessment performed by STs.

Authors+Show Affiliations

Chenot JF
Department of General Practice, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. jchenot@gwdg.de
Simmenroth-Nayda A
No affiliation info available
Koch A
No affiliation info available
Fischer T
No affiliation info available
Scherer M
No affiliation info available
Emmert B
No affiliation info available
Stanske B
No affiliation info available
Kochen MM
No affiliation info available
Himmel W
No affiliation info available

MeSH

AdultAttitude of Health PersonnelEducation, Medical, UndergraduateEducational MeasurementHumansObserver VariationPeer ReviewStudents, MedicalTeaching

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

17973763

Citation

Chenot, Jean-François, et al. "Can Student Tutors Act as Examiners in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination?" Medical Education, vol. 41, no. 11, 2007, pp. 1032-8.
Chenot JF, Simmenroth-Nayda A, Koch A, et al. Can student tutors act as examiners in an objective structured clinical examination? Med Educ. 2007;41(11):1032-8.
Chenot, J. F., Simmenroth-Nayda, A., Koch, A., Fischer, T., Scherer, M., Emmert, B., Stanske, B., Kochen, M. M., & Himmel, W. (2007). Can student tutors act as examiners in an objective structured clinical examination? Medical Education, 41(11), 1032-8.
Chenot JF, et al. Can Student Tutors Act as Examiners in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination. Med Educ. 2007;41(11):1032-8. PubMed PMID: 17973763.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Can student tutors act as examiners in an objective structured clinical examination? AU - Chenot,Jean-François, AU - Simmenroth-Nayda,Anne, AU - Koch,Alexandra, AU - Fischer,Thomas, AU - Scherer,Martin, AU - Emmert,Birgit, AU - Stanske,Beate, AU - Kochen,Michael M, AU - Himmel,Wolfgang, PY - 2007/11/2/pubmed PY - 2008/2/26/medline PY - 2007/11/2/entrez SP - 1032 EP - 8 JF - Medical education JO - Med Educ VL - 41 IS - 11 N2 - CONTEXT: The dissemination of objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) is hampered by requirements for high levels of staffing and a significantly higher workload compared with multiple-choice examinations. Senior medical students may be able to support faculty staff to assess their peers. The aim of this study is to assess the reliability of student tutors as OSCE examiners and their acceptance by their peers. METHODS: Using a checklist and a global rating, teaching doctors (TDs) and student tutors (STs) simultaneously assessed students in basic clinical skills at 4 OSCE stations. The inter-rater agreement between TDs and STs was calculated by kappa values and paired t-tests. Students then completed a questionnaire to assess their acceptance of student peer examiners. RESULTS: All 214 Year 3 students at the University of Göttingen Medical School were evaluated in spring 2005. Student tutors gave slightly better average grades than TDs (differences of 0.02-0.20 on a 5-point Likert scale). Inter-rater agreement at the stations ranged from 0.41 to 0.64 for checklist assessment and global ratings; overall inter-rater agreement on the final grade was 0.66. Most students felt that assessment by STs would result in the same grades as assessment by TDs (64%) and that it would be similarly objective (69%). Nearly all students (95%) felt confident that they could evaluate their peers themselves in an OSCE. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of our results, STs can act as examiners in summative OSCEs to assess basic medical skills. The slightly better grades observed are of no practical concern. Students accepted assessment performed by STs. SN - 0308-0110 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/17973763/Can_student_tutors_act_as_examiners_in_an_objective_structured_clinical_examination DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -