EXAMINER FATIGUE AND ABILITY TO CONCENTRATE IN AN OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION FOR PHYSICAL THERAPIST STUDENTS
Swift M, Spake E, Kohia M, Barnard A, Kamp V, Shine D; Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri
INTRODUCTION: Examiner fatigue and the ability to concentrate are factors that may influence examiners ability to assess each student on the same task time after time. The purpose of this study is to find out if examiner fatigue and ability to concentrate has any effect on scoring students in an Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) given to physical therapist students.
SUBJECTS: A total of 16 physical therapist students from Rockhurst University participated in an OSCE that was scored by 16 examiners (8 faculty and 8 clinicians) using either paper or electronic score sheets.
METHOD: The primary author of this study developed an OSCE for testing physical therapist students’ cognitive and psychomotor skills used in clinical practice. The examiners were asked to rate their perceived level of fatigue and ability to concentrate at the midway and endpoint time of the OSCE using a visual analog scale. The independent variables in this study were time, type of examiner and type of scoring. The dependent variable was examiner fatigue and ability to concentrate. Data was analyzed using multi-way ANOVA within groups. Follow-up tests using Bon-ferroni adjustments were used to analyze any significant interactions.
RESULTS: There was a significant difference between midway and end point times when comparing 1) faculty and clinicians (p=0.013), 2) examiners using paper vs. electronic score sheets (0.021) and 3) clinicians using paper vs. electronic scores sheets (p=0.046) which demonstrates an increase in fatigue over time. However, there was no significant difference between midway and end point times with their ability to concentrate over time. Finally, there was no significant difference between midway and end point times when comparing faculty using paper vs. electronic score sheets which demonstrates faculty did not demonstrate reduced fatigue or ability to concentrate over time.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Most of the examiners in in this study demonstrated significant fatigue over time with exception to faculty examiners. Routine tasks of administering exams may explain why faculty do not fatigue with time. Overall, less fatigue was experienced in examiners who scored student performance using an electronic score sheet, especially clinician examiners. Routine tasks of utilizing similar technology for electronic documentation may explain the decreased fatigue levels in assessing student performance for the clinician examiners when using an electronic score sheet. Finally, despite the fatigue experienced in this OSCE and regardless of the method in which the examiners scored student performance, all examiners were able to concentrate over time. These results suggest that an examiner can concentrate despite experiencing fatigue.
Swift M, Spake E, Kohia M, Barnard A, Kamp V, Shine D; Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri
INTRODUCTION: Examiner fatigue and the ability to concentrate are factors that may influence examiners ability to assess each student on the same task time after time. The purpose of this study is to find out if examiner fatigue and ability to concentrate has any effect on scoring students in an Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) given to physical therapist students.
SUBJECTS: A total of 16 physical therapist students from Rockhurst University participated in an OSCE that was scored by 16 examiners (8 faculty and 8 clinicians) using either paper or electronic score sheets.
METHOD: The primary author of this study developed an OSCE for testing physical therapist students’ cognitive and psychomotor skills used in clinical practice. The examiners were asked to rate their perceived level of fatigue and ability to concentrate at the midway and endpoint time of the OSCE using a visual analog scale. The independent variables in this study were time, type of examiner and type of scoring. The dependent variable was examiner fatigue and ability to concentrate. Data was analyzed using multi-way ANOVA within groups. Follow-up tests using Bon-ferroni adjustments were used to analyze any significant interactions.
RESULTS: There was a significant difference between midway and end point times when comparing 1) faculty and clinicians (p=0.013), 2) examiners using paper vs. electronic score sheets (0.021) and 3) clinicians using paper vs. electronic scores sheets (p=0.046) which demonstrates an increase in fatigue over time. However, there was no significant difference between midway and end point times with their ability to concentrate over time. Finally, there was no significant difference between midway and end point times when comparing faculty using paper vs. electronic score sheets which demonstrates faculty did not demonstrate reduced fatigue or ability to concentrate over time.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Most of the examiners in in this study demonstrated significant fatigue over time with exception to faculty examiners. Routine tasks of administering exams may explain why faculty do not fatigue with time. Overall, less fatigue was experienced in examiners who scored student performance using an electronic score sheet, especially clinician examiners. Routine tasks of utilizing similar technology for electronic documentation may explain the decreased fatigue levels in assessing student performance for the clinician examiners when using an electronic score sheet. Finally, despite the fatigue experienced in this OSCE and regardless of the method in which the examiners scored student performance, all examiners were able to concentrate over time. These results suggest that an examiner can concentrate despite experiencing fatigue.