OSCE: DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT.

BACKGROUND: OSCE - Objective Structured Clinical Examination - as an examination format was developed by Harden and colleagues in 1975 as an answer to the oft-criticised traditional long case clinical examination which was judged to have low psychometric properties. Since then it has received wide acceptance globally as an objective form of assessing clinical competences both at the undergraduate and post graduate levels. Despite this wide acceptability and usage, many medical institutions in the West African sub region are yet to embrace this reality. However there has been a renaissance of interest in the past decade within the sub region such that medical assessments at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels are increasingly adopting the OSCE system. A lot of training and capacity building need to be done. It is in the light of this that a comprehensible and moderately comprehensive document has been developed for the benefit of medical teachers and examiners in the West African sub region. AIM: This document aims to provide the medical teachers and examiners in the West African sub region a valuable, easily understood OSCE document that will facilitate their understanding and use of OSCE as an assessment tool, based on wide experience of use, capacity building and establishment of the format in medical schools and postgraduate institutions in the sub region.
METHODOLOGY: A widespread relevant literature search using different search platforms was conducted to identify published works, monograms and workshop manuals that met the aim and objectives targeted.
RESULTS: Out of numerous publications, most of which highlighted the works of the original authors of OSCE, others qualitatively comparing the OSCE and traditional examinations, a few others quantitatively comparing OSCE and the traditional examination and yet others examining aspects of cost and security, this document is a distillate of all the above, such that the reader is well engaged to obtain a balanced coverage of the subject.
CONCLUSION: An OSCE document comprehensively but compactly presented is made available for trainers and examiners in West African sub region and which easily serves as a reference document to facilitate and improve the quality of OSCE assessments in the sub region.