Objective structured practical examination in undergraduate pathology course — A trial study in a teaching medical college in Western Uttar Pradesh

Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) is a widely accepted tool to evaluate the practical skills of the medical students. Objectively Structured Practical Examination (OSPE) is gaining wide appreciation and acceptance in practical examination in Basic and Para —clinical medical subjects. OSPE has been proposed in Pathology for undergraduate medical students.

The present study was undertaken to determine the student perception and satisfaction regarding OSPE as a method of assessment of laboratory exercise in pathology.

The present study was carried out among M.B.B.S. students at a teaching medical college in Western Uttar Pradesh. A total of 126 students during their second year of MBBS course participated in the study. They went through the OSPE based practical examination and then a close ended questionnaire was distributed to assess student's perception regarding the OSPE based examination.

According to our study, OSPE was seen as a positive and useful practical experience by 66.67% of the students. Feedback from the students suggested that 83.33% students felt that OSPE was an objective tool in evaluating practical skills. Only 11.9% students perceived it as a stressful experience.

OSPE proved to be an efficient, acceptable and useful assessment tool for evaluating practical skills of the students. Such a promising feedback opens the ways for newer innovative modifications in the conventional teaching and evaluating medical education systems. The aim is to groom the medical education system into a more objective and student friendly system.