Learning effect of reusing stations in an objective structured clinical examination

Abstract

This article reports the effect of administering identical stations to different classes over a 12‐year period within the objective structured clinical examination component of a comprehensive examination of competence given to final‐year medical students at the University of Adelaide. Analyses of variance on 16 stations used twice and on 6 of these stations used more than twice showed evidence of statistically significant increments of about 5% to 7% per repeat administration. The most marked effect was on a CPR station used a total of five times; scores rose from an initial 45% to about 80% over 10 years. The educational implications of these findings for examining in medicine are discussed.