Twelve tips for developing an OSCE that measures what you want

Abstract

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is used globally for both high and low stakes assessment. Despite its extensive use, very few published articles provide a set of best practices for developing an OSCE, and of those that do, none apply a modern understanding of validity. This article provides 12 tips for developing an OSCE guided by Kane’s validity framework to ensure the OSCE is assessing what it purports to measure. The 12 tips are presented in the order they would be operationalized during OSCE development.

Acknowledgements

Dr. Daniels would like to acknowledge the Department of Medicine’s Academic Alternative Relationship Plan at the University of Alberta for its financial support. Dr. Pugh would like to acknowledge the Department of Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital for their financial support.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes on contributors

Vijay John Daniels, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Examination Committee which reviews the quality of all specialty certification examinations.

Debra Pugh, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She serves as Vice Chair of the Central Examination Committee at the Medical Council of Canada, and Vice Chair of the General Internal Medicine Examination Board at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.