The Effect of Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS) Evaluation Method on Learning Clinical Skills among Emergency Medicine Students

Introduction: Despite the fact that evaluation is the most important part of effectiveness of clinical education, evidences show the inefficiency of current evaluation methods. Common evaluation methods are restricted in subjective information and in addition to failure in evaluating students’ clinical skills precisely, they are not considered as learning instruments. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of DOPS evaluation method on learning clinical skills of emergency medicine students. Methods: This two group quasi experimental study of before and after design was carried out in surgery wards of Ghaem & Emam Reza hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences within 2008 and 2009 academic years. Study population included all emergency medicine students of the second semester that were divided into two groups (n=25 in experiment and n=21 in control group). Data collection method included observation and completion of a researcher made checklist before and after clinical course. Tool credibility was confirmed using content validity and its reliability was approved through inter-rater reliability (r=0/89). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and paired t-test. Results: There was no significant difference between groups regarding demographic variables. The mean of pretest in two groups showed no significant difference before intervention (p=0.18 and t=-1.3). This is while case group showed higher mean scores compared to control group after intervention (via DOPS evaluation) and this difference was significant (p=0.0001, t=4.9). Conclusion: It seems that employing new methods of evaluation such as DOPS as an objective, valid, and highly applicable method in clinical evaluation solely or along with other common methods, can result in the improvement of clinical skills and more effective learning among students.