Authenticity, acceptability, and feasibility of a hybrid gynecology station for the Papanicolaou test as part of a clinical skills examination in Korea

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the authenticity, acceptability, and feasibility of a hybrid station that combined a standardized patient encounter and a simulated Papanicolaou test. Methods: We introduced a hybrid station in the routine clinical skills examination (CSE) for 335 third-year medical students at 4 universities in Korea from December 1 to December 3, 2014. After the tests, we conducted an anonymous survey on the authenticity, acceptability, and feasibility of the hybrid station. Results: A total of 334 medical students and 17 professors completed the survey. A majority of the students (71.6%) and professors (82.4%) agreed that the hybrid station was more authentic than the standard CSE. Over 60 percent of the students and professors responded that the station was acceptable for assessing the students’ competence. Most of the students (75.2%) and professors (82.4%) assessed the required tasks as being feasible after reading the instructions. Conclusion: Our results showed that the hybrid CSE station was a highly authentic, acceptable, and feasible way to assess medical students’ performance.