Comparison of the objective structured clinical examination with the performance of third-year medical students in surgery

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as an evaluation technique by comparing medical student performance on the OSCE with traditional forms of evaluation. Subjects andmethods: We analyzed the performance of 129 third-year medical students in the 1997–1998 academic year on clinical evaluations, oral examinations, and NBME subject examinations, and on OSCE, which was not included in the final grade. Results: The OSCE showed high correlation with the final grades received for the clerkship. Seventy-one percent of students receiving High Pass or Honors had high OSCE scores whereas 67% of students with low OSCE scores received poor or Defer grades. Pearson product-moment correlations demonstrated significant bivariate correlations with the other test parameters. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the OSCE is similar to the traditional methods in evaluating general ability and is also able to evaluate clinical ability in a standardized manner.