title: Development of an evaluation of medical student competence in evidence-based medicine using a computer-based OSCE station.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Instruction in evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been widely incorporated into medical school curricula with little evidence of its effectiveness. Our goal was to create, implement, and validate a computer-based assessment tool that measured medical students' EBM skills.
  
  
  METHODS
  As part of a required objective structured clinical examination, we developed a specific case scenario in which students (a) asked a structured clinical question using a standard framework, (b) generated effective MEDLINE search terms to answer a specific question, and (c) elected the most appropriate of 3 abstracts generated from a search justifying which best applies to the patient scenario.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between the 3 blinded raters, there was very good interrater reliability with 84, 94, and 96% agreement on the scoring for each component, respectively (k = .64, .82, and .91, respectively). In addition, students found the station appropriately difficult for their level of training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This computer-based tool appears to measure several EBM skills independently and combines simple administration and scoring. Its generalizability to other cases and settings requires further study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0368, USA. jfrohna@umich.edu
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Frohna
authors.forename: Larry D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Gruppen
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Fliegel
authors.forename: Rajesh S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mangrulkar
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003201:Computers; D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013337:Students, Medical