OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED PRACTICAL EXAMINATION (OSPE) LOGISTICS 101 – EXPERIENCE WITH AN INTEGRATED EXAMINATION

Joseph M. Branday, Tomlin J. Paul*, Donna Beman,  Annette Crawford-Sykes, Dalip Ragoobirsingh, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, JAMAICA

Purpose

This paper identifies and describes the challenges faced in mounting Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPEs) in an integrated curriculum, for increasingly large classes of medical students at The University of the West Indies, Jamaica.

Methods

Between 2004 and 2007, the size of the third year medical class grew by almost 50%.  The 2004 blue-print for the OSPE was that of 53 stations, covering 7 different subject areas, each 3 minutes in duration, except for a history taking station (9 minutes).  Due to the increased student numbers a reflective review was conducted in order to identify the main challenges.

Results

The main challenges identified pertained to time and flow (logistic) issues.

To deal with the problem the time per station was decreased although this compounded the logistics as disparately timed stations needed to be multi-staged as many as five times. 

Conclusion/Future Directions

Increasing class size has led to more demanding logistics constraints for staging of OSPEs.   OSPE planning in this context is a challenge and calls for teams to be oriented and trained in related logistics.