Dental Students Perception and Attitude Towards their First Exit Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Aim was to assess students’ perceptions and attitudes towards having their first summative (OSCE) at the dental school of the Libyan International Medical University, Libya. A 14 item questionnaire used in previous publications was adapted to assess 5th year students’ responses. Twenty four students filled the questionnaire immediately after sitting OSCE examination. The questionnaire was administered to the same group of students on 3 study blocks. A 5 point Likert scale was used for rating. The OSCE consisted of total 72 stations. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The Cronbach’s alpha index of the questionnaire was 0.92 and the mean score of all items was 3.03 (SD 0.09) with a range from 1 to 4. The mean of scores assessed by students regarding the exam easiness was low (2.5). Students score for the adequacy of the stations number and the stations time was 3.3. Based on the evaluations of questionnaires, it could be concluded that our students neutrally evaluated their first experience with OSCE. However, most students perceived it as a difficult method of assessment. Writing stations induced less anxiety than immediately scored ones.