Evaluation of faculty inter-variability OSCE grade scoring on overall student performance in a laboratory course

Abstract

Introduction: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are considered the gold standard for evaluating pharmacy students’ clinical skills due to their reliability and validity.  Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine whether faculty inter-variability in OSCE grading had a significant impact on a student’s overall performance.  Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using data from two cohorts of third-year pharmacy students. Descriptive statistics, simple linear regression, and multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted.  Results: There were 120 students that participated in the OSCE with a mean score of 66.7%.    Higher scores in the Integrated Therapeutics (IT) 2 lecture series and the IT 2 lab course corresponded to better OSCE scores.  Out of 17 evaluators, six were found to rate students significantly lower and one was found to rate students significantly higher in comparison to a reference evaluator who evaluated students closest to the overall mean.  Conclusion: It is likely that standardised grading, and possibly additional training, may be needed to ensure a fair and appropriate evaluation of OSCE performance.