Association between Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) station order and clinical competence assessment in pharmacy students

Abstract

Background: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are used to assess clinical skills in pharmacy education. Some concern exists regarding station order and OSCE performance, but data are lacking in pharmacy students. The purpose of this study was to determine whether OSCE station order or first-station student confidence are associated with overall OSCE performance in third-year pharmacy (P3) students.   Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study included P3 students completing four three-station formative OSCEs and a two-day summative OSCE with four stations per day.  Stations were ranked by difficulty using pre-determined cut scores. For formative OSCEs, students also reported immediate post-station confidence.  Overall OSCE performance was compared between students completing the most difficult station first versus all others and between low and neutral-high first station student confidence groups using the Mann-Whitney test.     Results: Completing the most difficult station first was not associated with overall formative or summative OSCE performance.  However, students reporting low confidence on their first station had lower overall formative OSCE performance.  Student confidence was higher on stations designated as most difficult.      Conclusion: OSCE station order does not appear to impact overall performance, but low student confidence on the initial OSCE station may be associated with overall lower performance.