Perception about objective structured practical examination among undergraduate students in a dental institution in Bengaluru city – A cross-sectional survey

INTRODUCTION

An integral part of a medical curriculum is an appropriate assessment of the student’s clinical competencies. Medical/dental students should be assessed for their knowledge, comprehension, and psychomotor skills. Traditional examination overlooks these points and substantially reflects the global performance of the students. Objective structured practical examination (OSPE) is the new system of assessment, which is an objective, valid, and reliable tool for evaluation of teaching and learning.^[1]

OSPE included neutrality and uniformity in questions and the marking of students. Evaluation is a systematic process that consists of finding out the extent to which educational objectives have been achieved by students. No examination pattern is currently available that can fulfill all the criteria for assessment of students, based on their knowledge, comprehension, and skills. In addition, there is a failure to evaluate students’ perspectives and feedback about traditional examination methods, which have been rehearsed for decades.^[2]

OSPE was derived from objective structured clinical evaluation in 1975, which was later extended to practical examination. OSPE test in the students on what they can do rather than what they know. OSPE is a reliable device that has a good capacity to differentiate between different orders of students. It also tests the internal attendance and the student’s attitude toward learning during the time of practical demonstration and performance.^[3]

It is an unprejudiced system of evaluation of teaching and learning, which is neither stressful nor dependent on the mood of the examiner, and is constructed to judge the performances of students in the practical examination consistently with having objectives in the respective domain. OSPE is an assessment format in which the candidate rotates a circuit of stations at each of which a specific task has to be performed. The marking system for each station is structured in advance.^[4]

Extensive exploration of literature reveals that very few studies have been conducted in the field of dentistry to assess the opinion about OSPE in comparison with traditional practical examination among students. Hence, an attempt has been made in the present study to assess the opinion about OSPE in comparison with traditional practical examination in first to final year undergraduate students in a dental institution.

The aim of the study is to assess the opinion about OSPE in comparison with traditional practical examination among undergraduate students in a dental institution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the perception about OSPE compared to traditional practical examination among undergraduate dental students. After taking ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Board and permission from the head of the institution, a survey was conducted at Vydehi Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Center, Bengaluru. All the study participants were informed about the pros and cons of the survey, and written informed consent was obtained from them. All the students belonging to 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and final years, a total of 258, constituted study participants.

Assessment about perception regarding OSPE and traditional practical examination was done using a self-structured, pretested questionnaire consisting of 10 questions with options on a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire is checked for its content validity and reliability, and the reliability was found to be 0.8. The questionnaire was administered to the participants during their leisure hours and in the library. Participants took 10–15 min to fill the questionnaire. The data were collected and entered in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23.

Data analysis was done using the Chi-square test to check the significance difference between OSPE and traditional practical examination among undergraduate students.

RESULTS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to pool the opinions about OSPE among undergraduate dental students. In the present study, 80% of the subjects perceived that OSPE is better when compared to traditional practical examination (TPE), whereas 20% of the subjects disagreed in their opinion, and the results were significant at P < 0.05.

Out of 258 study participants, 59 (22%) were first Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students, 68 (26%) constituted by second year BDS, 69 (27%) by third year BDS, and 62 (25%) by final BDS students. In all the years, female students were more (80%) compared to male students (20%) [Table 1].

From the 1^st BDS till the final year BDS, there is a gradual increase in acceptance of OSPE. Among undergraduate students, 68% of the 1^st year, 79% of 2^nd year, 81% of 3^rd year, and 84% of the final year perceived that OSPE is better than TPE, and the results were significant at P < 0.05 [Table 2].

DISCUSSION

In the present cross-sectional survey, the participants felt that OSPE is better when compared to the traditional method of evaluation. The results are in accordance with the studies conducted by Patil and Saini,^[4] Jaywant and Pai,^[5] Despande et al.,^[2] and Wani and Dalvi,^[1] whereas the results are controversial to the study conducted by Hasan et al.,^[3] where they found that the mean score of the traditional method of practical evaluation was significantly higher than that of OSPE even though OSPE was found to be a valuable tool.

Adoption of OSPE as a method for assessment leads to a decrease in the time span of examination. The assessment was uniform for all the students, and it reduced the stress of students by making them go through only one round of examination. The same set of exercises was given to all the students by eliminating the role of luck. The advantage of OSPE includes faculty–student interaction, integration of teaching and evaluation, adaptability to local needs, and a relatively short time.

The main feature of OSPE is that both the process and the product are tested, giving importance to individual competencies. Patient variability and examiner variability are eliminated, thus increasing the validity of the examination.^[6]

OSPE provides integration of teaching and evaluation. Students take more interest due to the variety and keep themselves alert during the whole process of examination, which is not found in a conventional one.^[7]

CONCLUSION

OSPE was found to be a better method for evaluation when compared to the traditional method. Majority of the undergraduates, in ascending order from first to final years, felt that OSPE is better than the traditional method.