Performance of the curriculum for communication skills for breaking bad news: Evaluation with Common Achievement Tests OSCE and advanced OSCE

Abstract

Skills for breaking bad news (BBN) at the medical interview station were evaluated with the advanced objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). To clarify performances at this station, we compared the scores at this station with those of the Common Achievement Tests OSCE controlled by the Common Achievements Test Organization (CATO). The subjects were a group of students tested at an interval of 1 year 4 months during their clinical clerkships.
1) Raters (mostly postdoctorate fellows) played simulated patients after they had been trained to ensure standardization.
2) Students who had high scores for BBN skills on the advanced OSCE also had high scores for both the behavior part and the knowledge part of the total evaluation.
3) In contrast, students who had high scores for BBN skills on the advanced OSCE did not always have high scores on the Common Achievement Tests OSCE, suggesting the importance of clinical clerkships between these 2 OSCEs.