Team Objective Structured Bedside Assessment (TOSBA): A novel and feasible way of providing formative teaching and assessment

Abstract

It can be challenging to teach and assess medical students successfully in the setting of a hospital ward using real patients. We describe a novel method of providing weekly formative clinical assessment and teaching to final year students on an acute medical ward: The Team Objective Structured Bedside Assessment (TOSBA). The TOSBA involves three groups of five students rotating through three ward-based stations (each station consists of an inpatient and facilitator). Each group spends 25 minutes at a bedside station where the facilitator asks consecutive students to perform one of five clinical tasks. Every student receives a standardised grade and is provided with educational feedback at each of the three stations. We report our 15-month experience using the TOSBA format to assess and teach a large number of medical students on a weekly basis. We discuss the advantages and potential drawbacks of our approach.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. D. W. Miller

S. D. W. MILLER is a Lecturer in Medicine and Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

M. W. Butler

M. W. BUTLER is also a Lecturer in Medicine and Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine, at the RCSI.

S. D. W. Miller

S. D. W. MILLER is a Lecturer in Medicine and Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

M. W. Butler

M. W. BUTLER is also a Lecturer in Medicine and Specialist Registrar in Respiratory Medicine, at the RCSI.

F. Meagher

F. MEAGHER is a Lecturer in Medicine and a Physician at the RCSI.

R. W. Costello

R. W. COSTELLO is a Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the RCSI and a Respiratory Physician at Beaumont Hospital.

N. G. McElvaney

N. G. MCELVANEY is Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the RCSI and a Respiratory Physician at Beaumont Hospital.