title: Improving assessment practice through cross-institutional collaboration: An exercise on the use of OSCEs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was undertaken to improve assessment practice on OSCEs through collaboration across geographically dispersed medical schools in Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of eleven OSCE stations were co-developed by four medical schools and used in summative 2011 and 2012 examinations for the assessment of clinical performance in the early clinical and exit OSCEs in each school's medical course. Partial Credit Rasch Model was used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the shared OSCE data. Evaluation of the quality assurance reports was used to determine the beneficial impact of the collaborative benchmarking exercise on learning and teaching outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data for each examination demonstrated sufficient fit to the Rasch model with infit mean square values ranging from 0.88 to 0.99. Person separation (1.25-1.63) indices indicated good reliability. Evaluation of perceived benefits showed that the benchmarking process was successful as it highlighted common curriculum areas requiring specific focus and provided comparable data on the quality of teaching at the participating medical schools.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This research demonstrates the validity of the psychometric data and benefits of evaluating clinical competence across medical schools without the enforcement of a prescriptive national curriculum or assessment.
authors.affiliation: a James Cook University , Australia .
authors.forename: Bunmi Sherifat
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Malau-Aduli
authors.affiliation: a James Cook University , Australia .
authors.forename: Peta-Ann
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Teague
authors.affiliation: b University of Tasmania , Australia .
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: b University of Tasmania , Australia .
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Holman
authors.affiliation: c Deakin University , Australia .
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: D'Souza
authors.affiliation: d University of Wollongong , Australia .
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Garne
authors.affiliation: a James Cook University , Australia .
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heal
authors.affiliation: a James Cook University , Australia .
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heggarty
authors.affiliation: e University of Newcastle , Australia .
authors.forename: Judith Nicky
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.affiliation: d University of Wollongong , Australia .
authors.forename: Ian G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: f Universiteit Maastricht , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cees
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van Der Vleuten
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards