First Experience with OSCE as an Exit Clinical Examination for General Surgery Residency Program at the Addis Ababa University - School of Medicine

Sep 20, 2026

Clinical skills assessment for surgical residents has long been considered problematic, prompting interest in the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as an approach to address limitations of traditional examinations. This cross-sectional survey evaluated the first implementation of OSCE for final exit examination in the General Surgery Department at Addis Ababa University. Outcomes from 10 final-year residents and 20 academic staff indicated that OSCE was viewed as useful, with student results showing borderline consistency and moderate correlations with viva and written tests. Findings support implementation with adequate orientation and focus on improving reliability.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Past experience with OSCE

Subjects and Methods

Exit examination Preparation

First Experience with OSCE as an Exit Clinical Examination for General Surgery Residency Program at the Addis Ababa University, School of Medicine. A. Bekele 1, S. Shiferaw2, B. Kotisso1 1 Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Addis Ababa University 2School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University Correspondence to: Dr. Abebe Bekele, [Email:](Email: abebesurg@yahoo.com)[ ](Email: abebesurg@yahoo.com)[abebesurg@yahoo.com](Email: abebesurg@yahoo.com) Background: The evaluation of clinical skills of surgical residents has long been viewed by surgical educators as problematic and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is said to address the deficiencies of the traditional clinical examinations. Here, we report findings from evaluation of our first experience with this examination at the Addis Ababa University, Department of Surgery. Methods: This was a cross sectional survey among surgical students in University, School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Addis Ababa University. The study population consisted of 10 final year residents in General surgery sitting for final exit exam in the year 2011 and 20 academic staff at the Department of surgery. Results : The study showed that both students and instructors found OSCE to be useful and believed that OSCE evaluated very well the history taking and physical examination ability of residents. Students’ OSCE results showed that they had borderline consistency (Cronbach’s α =0.67) and correlation with viva (Pearson r = 0.65; p-value=0.04) and written test results (Pearson r = 0.58; P-value=0.08). Conclusion: Overall, the findings indicate that OSCE can be implemented with some level of success provided the students and staffs are adequately oriented and convinced of the justifications for an objective assessment in clinical training. Further plans and activities need to address how OSCE can be made a more reliable measure of students’ performance. Introduction The evaluation of clinical skills of surgical residents has long been viewed by surgical educators as problematic 1. Clinical skills refer to the ability of a resident to do an appropriate history and physical examination, problem-solve, arrive at a working diagnosis, and outline a plan of management 1, 2. Traditionally, clinical skills have been evaluated by means of multiple choice tests, oral examinations, progressive assessment and other forms of written examinations1,2,3 . These methods have been shown to be lacking in either reliability or validity3,4,5 . Examinations based on multiple choice questions, although highly reliable, largely test recall of factual knowledge and lack content and construct validity when assessing higher cognitive skills such as problem solving6,7,8 . Oral examinations have been the major tool by which surgical educators have attempted to assess problem-solving. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is an assessment tool consisting of a series of standardized stations testing both clinical and technical skills2. Since this methodology was introduced in 1975 by Hardin3, it has become an increasingly popular evaluation tool for both medical students and residents in a variety of disciplines. Arguably the most effective test for evaluating clinical skills is the OSCE3,4,5 . Though there are no published documents about post graduate examination in Ethiopia, experience and review of the curriculum has shown that it has been effected through the utilization of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) and essay written tests, the traditional long case, short case and viva (interview) examinations. The purpose of this study was to assess the first experience with OSCE in Ethiopia during the exit examination of final year General Surgery residents at the Addis Ababa University, School of medicine. COSECSA/ASEA Publication --East and Central African Journal of Surgery. November/December2012Volume 17 (3) We also wanted to analyze the attitude towards and

FAQs

Why was OSCE considered for the general surgery exit clinical examination?

Traditional clinical assessments were viewed as lacking in reliability or validity for higher cognitive skills. OSCE was described as addressing these deficiencies by using standardized stations to test clinical and technical skills.

How was the first OSCE experience evaluated in this study?

The study used a cross-sectional survey among surgical students and academic staff. The population included 10 final-year general surgery residents and 20 academic staff associated with the Department of Surgery.

What did the results suggest about the usefulness of OSCE?

Students and instructors found OSCE useful and believed it evaluated history taking and physical examination abilities well. Student performance showed borderline consistency and correlations with viva and written test results.

Sep 20, 2026

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