Avaliação de habilidades e competências de radiologia odontológica pelo Exame Clínico Objetivo Estruturado (OSCE) presencial e virtual

Abstract

Assessment is important in determining the educational performance of students. In dental education, observation is commonly the main method of assessment, but this type of quantitative and unstructured assessment has several deficiencies in reliability, objectivity, and variability. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a structured method for assessing clinical competence, with emphasis on the objectivity of the exam. OSCEs are applied to assess sets of clinical skills, students' ability to analyze patient cases and communicate effectively. The aim of the present study was to evaluate dental undergraduate students regarding their clinical competences and skills in Oral Radiology by the OSCE presential and in its virtual form (VOSCE). For this purpose, an objective and structured evaluation of Dental Radiology contents was carried out with a group of 41 students by the OSCE and VOSCE, in circuits with six stations for each of the methods. The students were also assessed for their anxiety level before and after the exams using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults, and they performed a meta-evaluation of each of the stations, regarding the time to complete the question, clarity of the questions, degree of difficulty and importance for clinical practice. The results indicated that the students evaluated showed a better performance in the OSCE (p≤0.05) than in the VOSCE. Anxiety levels were considered moderate in both assessments, with no difference between the two exams. The meta-evaluation pointed to a positive evaluation for the items “time of execution”, “clarity”, “degree of difficulty” and “importance for clinical practice”, both for the OSCE and for the VOSCE. It can be concluded that the face-to-face and virtual OSCEs were effective for evaluating clinical skills and competencies in Oral Radiology, but with a limitation in the virtual method for evaluating technical skills