Are evaluations in simulated medical encounters reliable among rater types? A comparison between standardized patient and outside observer ratings of OSCEs

• DOI: 10.1016/j.pecinn.2023.100125
• Publication Date: 2023-01-29T15:01:38Z
• Authors: Easton N. Wollney; Taylor S. Vasquez; Carolyn Stalvey; Julia Close; Merry Jennifer Ma...; Lynne E. Meyer; Lou Ann Cooper; Carma L. Bylund
• Keywords: Observer (physics)

By analyzing Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) evaluations of first-year interns' communication with standardized patients (SP), our study aimed to examine the differences between ratings SPs and a set outside observers training in healthcare communication.Immediately following completion OSCEs, evaluated skills using 30 items. Later, two independently coded video recordings same We conducted two-tailed t-tests SP observers' ratings.Rater scores differed significantly on 21 items (p < .05), 20 due higher in-person evaluation scores. Items most divergent included related empathic nonverbal communication.Differences observer should be further investigated determine if additional rater is needed or revised measure needed. Educators may benefit from adjusting criteria decrease number raters must complete do so by encompassing more global questions regarding various criteria. Furthermore, measures strengthened undergoing reliability validity testing.This highlights strengths limitations types (observers SPs), as well methods (recorded in-person).