Students' perceptions of the OSCE: a valid assessment tool?

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study into student midwives' perception of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The study was conducted at the University of Hertfordshire in the summer of 2005 as part of the author's Masters Degree in teaching and learning. Ten volunteers from a sample cohort of 23 students were surveyed through the medium of semi-structured interviews. The findings show that OSCE is generally perceived by student midwives to be an acceptable, valid and fair means of assessing clinical skills in simulation. However, several aspects were highlighted for criticism, in particular the artificiality of the situation, poor equipment and unsatisfactory administration, all of which contributed to student anxiety. Many suggestions for improvement were offered, such as allowing interaction with assessors during workstations and having flexible time limits to complete each station. On balance, the author concludes that the student perception of OSCE is encouraging enough to justify its continued use.