Background: At the Department of Medical Education, Centre for Innovative Medical Education at Jagiellonian University Medical College, a completely remote OSCE (e-OSCE) was con-ducted for the first time using the Microsoft Teams platform. 255 test takers were tasked with presenting their communication and clinical skills in order to assess clinical reasoning.
Aim: Analysis of the assessment of the OSCE adaptation to the requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Department of Medical Educations in the form of the e-OSCE from the students’ perspective.
Methods: Discussion of the OSCE modification was carried out among 6th-year medical students and graduates undergoing validation of their foreign medical degrees. In order to assess students’ opinions of the e-OSCE, we used questionnaires. The Statistica 12.0 program was used to analyse the results.
Results: According to 91.57% of respondents, the e-OSCE was well-prepared. 60% of students strongly agree and 29.47% rather agree that the order of the stations was appropriate and clear. A majority of respondents rated the e-OSCE as fair. 66.32% of respondents strongly agree and rather agree that the proportions of communication and clinical skills were appropriate. The vast majority of the participants of the exam (81.05%) had enough time for individual stations. A statistically significant (p <0.0001) correla-tion was found between the type of classes and preparation for the e-OSCE. For 61.05% of respondents, the Laboratory Training of Clinical Skills course was the best preparation for students taking the e-OSCE. Taking into account the stressfulness of the OSCE, only 15.96% of students found the online form more stressful than the traditional (in-person) exam.
Conclusions: The e-OSCE in students’ opinions was well-organized. Informing test-takers prior to the e-OSCE about the role of invigilators assessing individual stations should be improved. The e-OSCE has been proven to be suitable for assessing a wide range of material and validating communication and clinical skills in appropriate proportions. The e-OSCE is fair according to examinees’ opinion. The study proves that even in a pandemic, it is possible to prepare an online exam without exposing examiners and examinees to the dangers posed by COVID-19.

Objectives: The OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) is a common method of assessing clinical skills used at many universities. An important and simultaneously difficult aspect of good examination preparation is obtaining a properly trained and well-motivated group of assessors. To effectively recruit and maintain cooperation with assessors, it is worth knowing their opinion. The aim of this study was to investigate the opinions of teacher-examiners about the OSCE and to identify the factors that could shape this opinion and influence on motivation.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire on teachers who participated as OSCE examiners. This questionnaire consisted of 21 questions about their perceptions. Answers were rated in a five-point Likert-type scale. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test was used to analyze the data.

Results: A total of 49 (out of 52) teachers participated in this study. Nearly 90% of examiners believed that it is fair, and more than 90% that it is transparent. Despite the fact that 67% of examiners believe that the examination is difficult to organize and 71% believe it is stressful for students; according to 72% of respondents the OSCE has a positive effect on learning. More than 91% of examiners believed that the OSCE is an appropriate test to assess students’ skills. Opinions about the examination were independent of specialty, seniority, gender or having taken the OSCE as students.

Conclusion: Teacher-examiners viewed the OSCE as a fair and transparent examination, adequate for the assessment of skills and, despite it being difficult to organize, worth doing as it is appropriate to assess practical skills and positively influences students’ motivation to learn tested skills.