abstract
- © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U.Introduction The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has been widely used to measure clinical skills for selection or training with a standardized patient. Material and methods The study was applied to a random sample of medical students from 5th year. They had a clinical encounter with a standardized patient complaining for urination burning. The research design was mixed, descriptive and transactional. Two instruments were used: Assessment guide and medical chart. The variables considered were: Clinical skills, quality of medical chart and identification of 3 probable diagnosis. Results Results indicated the level of clinical skills in a 1-4 scale: questioning (2.72), therapeutic management (2.30) and physical examination (2.03). The medical charts had adequate quality in 3 dimensions: reason for consultation (100%), medical history (70.6%) and current condition (88.2%). The 94.1% of students were able to identify the main diagnosis, 88.2% recognized the second and only 17.6% reported the third diagnosis. Discussion Although students showed an adequate level of performance to identify the main diagnosis and physical examination, it is necessary to improve students¿ clinical judgment to identify other diagnoses. The OSCE experience allowsthe assessment of clinical skills in a wide group of students, however the format should designate a time for the faculty to include a debriefing session to analyze the student's reasoning.