Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38395807›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2024

Impact of familiarity with the format of the exam on performance in the OSCE of undergraduate medical students - an interventional study.

Hannes Neuwirt, Iris E Eder, Philipp Gauckler, Lena Horvath, Stefan Koeck, Maria Noflatscher, Benedikt Schaefer, Anja Simeon, Verena Petzer, Wolfgang M Prodinger and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
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Article in BMC medical education, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
3.3field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Hannes NeuwirtDepartment of Internal Medicine IV - Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria. Hannes.Neuwirt@i-med.ac.at.
Iris E EderDepartment of Urology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Philipp GaucklerDepartment of Internal Medicine IV - Nephrology and Hypertension, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Lena HorvathDepartment of Internal Medicine V - Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Stefan KoeckDepartment of Internal Medicine V - Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Maria NoflatscherDepartment of Internal Medicine III - Cardiology and Angiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Benedikt SchaeferDepartment of Internal Medicine I - Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Anja SimeonDepartment of Internal Medicine II, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Verena PetzerDepartment of Internal Medicine V - Hematology and Oncology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstrasse 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Wolfgang M ProdingerVice Rectorate for Teaching and Study Affairs, Medical University of Innsbruck, Fritz-Pregl-Strasse 3, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
Christoph BerendonkInstitute for Medical Education (IML) - Assessment and Evaluation Unit (AAE), University of Bern, Mittelstrasse 43, CH-3012, Bern, Switzerland.
Innsbruck Medical University · ATUniversität Innsbruck · ATUniversity of Bern · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAssessments, such as summative structured examinations, aim to verify whether students have acquired the necessary competencies. It is important to familiarize students with the examination format prior to the assessment to ensure that true competency is measured. However, it is unclear whether students can demonstrate their true potential or possibly perform less effectively due to the unfamiliar examination format. Hence, we questioned whether a 10-min active familiarization in the form of simulation improved medical students´ OSCE performance. Next, we wanted to elucidate whether the effect depends on whether the familiarization procedure is active or passive.

methodsWe implemented an intervention consisting of a 10-min active simulation to prepare the students for the OSCE setting. We compared the impact of this intervention on performance to no intervention in 5th-year medical students (n = 1284) from 2018 until 2022. Recently, a passive lecture, in which the OSCE setting is explained without active participation of the students, was introduced as a comparator group. Students who participated in neither the intervention nor the passive lecture group formed the control group. The OSCE performance between the groups and the impact of gender was assessed using X

resultsWe found that active familiarization of students (n = 188) yields significantly better performance compared to the passive comparator (Cohen´s d = 0.857, p < 0.001, n = 52) and control group (Cohen´s d = 0.473, p < 0.001, n = 122). In multivariate regression analysis, active intervention remained the only significant variable with a 2.945-fold increase in the probability of passing the exam (p = 0.018).

conclusionsA short 10-min active intervention to familiarize students with the OSCE setting significantly improved student performance. We suggest that curricula should include simulations on the exam setting in addition to courses that increase knowledge or skills to mitigate the negative effect of nonfamiliarity with the OSCE exam setting on the students.

Indexed as

Education, Medical, UndergraduateStudents, MedicalClinical CompetenceEducational MeasurementHumansPhysical ExaminationActive participationElective courseFamiliarizationMedical studentsOSCEPassive lecturePerformance

Identifiers

PMID38395807
PMCPMC10893607
OpenAlexW4392111504

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.