Money makes the (medical assessment) world go round: How costly is the OSCE?

Craig William Brown, Sarah Ross, Jen Cleland, Kieran Walsh

Research output: Contribution to conferencePoster

Abstract

To evaluate the financial cost for a high stakes Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and demonstrate the significance unrecognized costs of clinical examinations. Money makes the (medical assessment) world go round: How costly is an OSCE? In 2013 the University of Aberdeen held a 2 day, 15 station summative degree level OSCE for 185 final year medical students. The costs of different phases:-Development-Production-Administration-Post-Examination of the exam were determined from historical expenses or estimations of costs based on clinician/administrative time spent on the exam. Methods
• The OSCE cost our institution £65,328 (Figure 1).
• Question development and testing cost £6,300 (£419/question).
• The largest administration expense was examiner time (115 PA's) £27,000.
• Volunteer patients currently do not incur a charge to our institution although some institutions pay up to £230/day 1 for OSCEs-a potential additional cost to the institution of £19,000.
• There are other hidden costs such as room utilities, equipment wear and tear etc which cannot be calculated
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Event4th Scottish Medical Education Conference - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: 28 Apr 201428 Apr 2014

Conference

Conference4th Scottish Medical Education Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period28/04/1428/04/14

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