Tahmeena Siddiqui, Amina Ahmed.
Reliability of OSTE in the health professions education exit examination of College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan: a psychometric analysis.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;23(1):62-6.

Objective: To determine reliability and validity of objectively structured teaching examination (OSTE) and the difference in the examination scores of two consecutive Health Professions Education batches. Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, Karachi, from November 2011 to April 2012. Methodology: The OSTEs were designed on the basis of examination blueprints. Scores of participants of two consecutive years (group-I n = 14, group-II n = 15) were analyzed by using SPSS version 16. Mean + SD was computed and overall means were compared by t test. Reliability was determined by Cronbach's α coefficient. Standard error of measurement (SEM) was computed for precision of scores. OSTE stations were not uni-dimensional, factor analysis including varimax rotation was performed. For convergent validity (Pearson correlations) was determined between scores of OSTE, lectures delivered and workshops conducted. Results: The overall mean score was 7.64 + 0.65 in group-I and 7.33 ± 1.03 in group-II (p = 0.429), (group-I SEM = 0.35 and group-II, SEM = 0.48). Factor analysis yielded four factors in group-I and five factors in group-II with Eigenvalues > 1. The Pearson's correlation of average scores of OSTE and lecture was significant for group-I (r = 0.61, p 0.019), and insignificant for group-II (r = 0.46, p = 0.08). Correlation between OSTE and workshops conducted was insignificant in group-I (r = 0.51, p = 0.057) and significant in group-II (r = 0.53, p = 0.04). Conclusion: OSTE is a reliable, valid assessment tool for discerning competency among learners of HPE program.

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