Undergraduate Views of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations within a UK Dental School.

Bristol Dental School introduced OSCEs as a summative undergraduate assessment in the academic year 2013/14 within the Units of Primary Care Dentistry for students in Years 2, 3 and 4, and also within the Unit of Dental Skills for students in Year 2. As part of the yearly Unit review process, student feedback was obtained. A number of students claimed to be unprepared for their OSCEs, both in terms of knowing which Learning Outcomes would be assessed, and also in terms of the format of the OSCE.
The 2014 National Student Survey (NSS) results for Dentistry placed Bristol second from bottom in the national dental school rankings, with an overall satisfaction score of 82%, compared to 92% the previous year. More specifically, student satisfaction with assessments was only 68% overall, and there was a fall in the level of satisfaction compared to the results from 2013 when asked to consider “Assessment arrangements and marking have been fair” and “Feedback on my work has been prompt”. Investigating possible areas of current student dissatisfaction may allow modification and improvements to teaching and communication for future OSCEs, thus ensuring that they remain a valid and fair assessment of undergraduate clinical skills, and one that students are fully prepared for. The assessment process will become more transparent and will hopefully be seen by students as an aid to learning with educational value. As a result, it is hoped that the NSS scores will improve.