A training programme run by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar 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)—one of the key teaching and assessment tools used in the training of doctors.
The OSCE utilises ‘standardized 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 and allows for 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, entitled ‘Certificate Program in the Development of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination’, was delivered by WCM-Q’s Division of Continuing Professional Development and other WCM-Q faculty and staff in the college’s state-of-the-art Clinical Skills Center.
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.
