Background: The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was introduced by Harden et al. (1975) trying to answer the problems regarding the assessment of clinical competencies. Despite increasingly widespread use of OSCEs, debate continues with arguments as ‘why using such a demanding format if other methods are available?’ Aim: To review and synthesize evidence on technical and economic feasibility of OSCE in undergraduate medical studies. Methods: Best Evidence Medical Education methodology was applied by two independent coders to 1083 studies identified by literature search from 1975 until the end of 2008. Key findings: The OSCE is a feasible approach to the assessment of clinical competence for use in different cultural and geographical contexts; to assess a wide range of learning outcomes; in different specialties and disciplines; for formative and summative purposes; to assess students a curriculum or an educational intervention; in the different phases of education including the early and later years of the undergraduate curriculum; and in different health care professions. Conclusion: Despite being an expensive test format, evidence suggests that the use of OSCE produces reliable results. The study also suggests that one reason for the wide-scale adoption of the OSCE and the feasibility of its use in different contexts and situations is its inherent flexibility in terms of the number of students that can be assessed, the number of examiners included, the type of patients represented and the format of the examination itself, including the length of the examination, the number and duration of stations.

COVID-19 has fundamentally altered how education is delivered. Gordon et al. previously conducted a review of medical education developments in response to COVID-19; however, the field has rapidly ...

What has become known as the Bologna Process has evolved over a series of ministerial conferences with the last meeting in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve in 2009. There has been a move towards recognition of the benefits to be gained from greater transparency, a general recognition of degrees across Europe, cooperation with regard to quality assurance, an emphasis on more flexible learning paths and lifelong learning, and the promotion of mobility. This paper highlights the ambitious objectives underpinning the Bologna Declaration and Process and the developments since the 1999 Declaration and the current position in particular with regard to medicine. The paper describes common myths and misunderstandings about the Process relating to the two cycle model, the progress of students after the first cycle and the concept of harmonisation rather than uniformity. It is argued that the Bologna Process can serve as a catalyst for the necessary change in medical education. With careful management and imaginative implementation and the necessary vision, creativity and enthusiasm, any problems can be circumnavigated and rich rewards achieved. The Bologna Process is constantly evolving and its dynamic nature is one of its strengths. Medicine has much to contribute and should be part of this Process.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has experienced an explosion of use which has rarely been accompanied by systematic investigations on its validity, reliability and feasibility. A systematic review of OSCE was undertaken as part of Best Evidence Medical Education at the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Several problems were identified with published papers relating to completeness of information presented, methodological issues or the use of terminology. To identify a need for standardization within the reporting of OSCE studies in medical education based in the first 104 papers of the aforementioned review. Two independent reviewers coded each paper. The most important problem identified was the lack of information, followed by the degree of inconsistency when reporting on OSCEs (papers with missing data and papers where data was given in a way that interpretation is difficult or impossible in terms of evidence; heterogeneity in reporting, lack of a standardized vocabulary, statistical errors and lack of structure within reporting). The authors present a 'Comprehensive Checklist for those describing the use of OSCEs in the report of educational literature' as an attempt to encourage better report standards.

Prior reviews investigated medical education developments in response to COVID-19, identifying the pivot to remote learning as a key area for future investigation. This review synthesized online le...

Background: The Bologna Declaration aims to harmonize European higher education. At workshops held at AMEE Conferences (2001/2007), it was observed that medical educators seem unaware of Bologna Declaration policies in their own countries. Specifically the objective to structure higher education in two cycles evokes strong opinions, but an overview on the implementation progress is lacking. Method: To determine the present state of implementation of the Bologna two-cycle system in medical education, an AMEE–MEDINE survey was sent to all forty-six signatory countries, inquiring about legislative decisions. Results: Not all answers were unequivocal, but it appears that only seven countries decided for adoption and nineteen decided not to adopt it. The remainder fifteen have not decided or leaves the decision to their medical schools. Non-European countries seem to reject the system more often than European countries. Discussion: We found that very few persons are well informed about national policies and harmonization of medical education does not seem to be enhanced by the Bologna Declaration. Our findings point in the direction of a diversification regarding curricula structure. There is a need for clarity and dialogue on many aspects of Medical Education. The Bologna process could serve as a vehicle to reach this goal.