OSCEs – ‘O’ is for the overall stress that I feel!

Abstract

Glasgow Vet School has been using the Objective Structured Clinical Examination to assess practical skills since 1994. Senior academic staff responsible for the co-ordination of the OSCEs in undergraduate years I to IV report anecdotally that students’ stress levels in the OSCE exams seem to be markedly higher than in more traditional written exams. In 2019, it was decided that station titles would be released the night before the OSCE with the aim of alleviating the stress and anxiety surrounding not knowing which skills would be assessed each day. However, there has been only minimal student feedback to support that this had a positive impact on stress levels. In an effort to address this, the authors decided to investigate students’ perception of stress levels in different types of examination within the curriculum; the impact of releasing station titles; what factors during OSCEs contribute to stress and potential methods to mitigate this stress. In February 2023, during the BVMS IV summative OSCE, 141 fourth year undergraduates were asked to fill in a mixed methods questionnaire to explore OSCE stress. Findings reveal that students find the OSCE marginally more stressful than written examinations, and students are less stressed when they know the station titles of the OSCES the night before. Factors contributing to OSCE stress include the timing of revision sessions, the waiting room environment and assessor non-verbal communication. Suggestions for alleviating stress include implementing strategies to improve the exam waiting room environment, addressing assessor non-verbal communication and prioritising summative OSCE year groups: revision sessions, appropriate lecture scheduling, and formative training