Awarding global grades in OSCEs: evaluation of a novel eLearning resource for OSCE examiners.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A novel online resource has been developed to aid OSCE examiner training comprising a series of videos of OSCE performances that allow inter-examiner comparison of global grade decisions. AIMS: To evaluate this training resource in terms of usefulness and ability to improve examiner confidence in awarding global grades in OSCEs. METHOD: Data collected from the first 200 users included global grades awarded, willingness to change grades following peer comparison and confidence in awarding grades before and after training. RESULTS: Most (86.5%) agreed that the resource was useful in developing global grade scoring ability in OSCEs, with a significant improvement in confidence in awarding grades after using the training package (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This is a useful and effective online training package. As an adjunct to traditional training it offers a practical solution to the problem of availability of examiners.