PURPOSE
The evaluation of clinical skills and attitudes is an essential component of any examination assessing clinical competency. Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) was introduced in the 1980's to medical educators for the objective evaluation of clinical competency. In this study, the authors describe and analyse their experience with developing and implementing the OSCE for the board licensure examination of plastic surgeons in Korea.
METHODS
We developed a 50-minute long OSCE consisting of ten 5-minute (4.5 minute for examination at each station and 0.5 minute for transfer) stations, duplicated. We divided 74 applicants into 8 groups (about 10 applicants per group).
Four stations out of the ten in each station-set used a standardized patient (SP). We compared the scores of the duplicated station-sets to assess the reliability of scoring between station-sets. And we analysed the applicants' questionnaire survey feedbacks on this experience administered at the end of the examination.
RESULTS
The passing rate of the examination was 100%. The total scores were statistically different between the two station-sets. Applicants were satisfied with the examination, and felt that the problem-solving processes adopted in each station were valid and appropriate for the assessment of clinical competency for board licensure examination.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that the OSCE can be widely applied to board licensure examinations of various specialties.
