A ppropriate assessment of the clinical skills and competence of medical students is an essential and  integral component of the  medical curriculum.   Several methods of assessment of performance are used in medical education (1,2). The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is an approach to student assessment in which aspects of clinical competence are evaluated in a comprehensive, consistent and structured manner with close attention to the objectivity of the process (3). OSCE was introduced by Harden in 1975(4). Since its inception, OSCE has been increasingly used to provide formative and summative assessment in various medical disciplines worldwide (5). In addition to assessing the competence and performance of the examinee, OSCE has many advantages over traditional methods of evaluation such as conventional bedside long and short case examinations. The advantages of the examination are greatly apparent when one reviews the wide spectrum of clinical tasks that can be incorporated into the OSCE. Such tasks include clinical data interpretation, reviews of radiographs, use of models, and examination of simulated or real patients. The breadth of data that can be included in this type of examination is limited only by the imagination of the examiners. As an evaluation tool, OSCE  eliminates subjectivity, reduces variations in marking standards from examiner to examiner and can accurately reflect the real-life tasks of the doctor (6).

Evaluation of OSCE experience by students and faculty helps to enhance its acceptance as a relatively new assessment tool and refine some of the deficiencies observed in the preparation and conduct of the process. Many studies have been conducted on feedback from students on OSCE(7-10).

The college of medicine KKU, was established in 1980. The department of Internal Medicine has been there for the same duration of time as one of the major clinical departments rendering training for undergraduate medical students. However, OSCE as a testing format was introduced in the department in the year 2009. Only five stations were used to partially cover history taking, physical examination and data interpretation as part of assessment of 4^th year medical students. This OSCE, was the first proper one to be implemented by the department. It was composed of a circuit of 12 stations in which various tasks were asked including examination of organ systems such as the respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and history taking skills. Laboratory data, X-rays, pictures and videos were also posted at some of the stations to assess the analytical capacity of students. The time allotted for each station was 5 minutes. A standardized criterion-based scoring format was used for marking at each station. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students with the  objective of evaluating students’ perception about the fairness, objectivity, comprehensiveness and overall organization and administration of OSCE in the department of internal medicine.

 Stu dent feedback confirmed their acceptance of OSCE. This is encouraging to the department to consider implementing OSCE for graduating students. This is also timely since the university and the College are engaged in curriculum evaluation and reform.

The survey was conducted in June 2011 on  medicine 1  batch  of medical students  in the fourth year of their study in the college. A 18-item self-administered structured questionnaire was employed to gather relevant data regarding perception of students about the quality of OSCE, its fairness and its organization.  A  5-point Likert scale, with responses ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” was used.  Students were asked follow-up questions related to positive and negative aspects of the OSCE and suggestions for improvement. Basic descriptive statistical analysis of the Likert items was conducted by calculating frequencies and regrouping the responses was made into similar categories. The survey was anonymous and inclusion into it was entirely voluntary.