OSCE! Variations on a theme by Harden.
BACKGROUND
In 1979, Harden described the first objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Harden's OSCE dramatically changed the assessment of professional competence because it used actors and choreographed scenarios to evaluate the performance of professional behaviours.


METHODS
Because of the intense focus on performance, OSCEs have had a powerful influence on doctor training and practice. However, the immediate psychometric characteristics of OSCEs rather than their performance effects have been the subject of most research.


CONCLUSIONS
The time has come to undertake a sophisticated sociological investigation of how OSCEs affect medical practice, including the ways in which they shape doctor interaction with patients, families and other health professionals.
Department of Psychiatry, Wilson Centre for Research in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto General Hospital, Ontario, Canada. brian.hodges@utoronto.ca
Brian
B
Hodges
D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results