Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 4;22(1):15.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-03088-7.

Comparison of OSCE performance between 6- and 7-year medical school curricula in Taiwan

Jr-Wei Wu  1   2   3 , Hao-Min Cheng  1   2   4 , Shiau-Shian Huang  1   2 , Jen-Feng Liang  1   2 , Chia-Chang Huang  1   2   5 , Ling-Yu Yang  1   2 , Boaz Shulruf  6 , Ying-Ying Yang  7   8   9   10 , Chen-Huan Chen  1   2 , Ming-Chih Hou  2   11 , Wayne Huey-Herng Sheu  2   12   13
Affiliations

Comparison of OSCE performance between 6- and 7-year medical school curricula in Taiwan

Jr-Wei Wu et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: The year 2013 marks a watershed in the history of medical education in Taiwan. Following Taiwan's Taskforce of Medical School Curriculum Reform recommendations, the medical school curriculum was reduced from 7 to 6 years. This study aimed to analyze the impact of medical school curriculum reform on medical students' performance in objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the OSCE records at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (Taipei VGH), one of Taiwan's largest tertiary medical centers, between November 2016 and July 2020. The eligibility criteria were medical students receiving a full one-year clinical sub-internship training at Taipei VGH and in their last year of medical school. All medical students received a mock OSCE-1 at the beginning of their sub-internship, a mock OSCE-2 after six months of training, and a national OSCE at the end of their sub-internship. The parameters for performance in OSCEs included "percentage of scores above the qualification standard" and "percentage of qualified stations."

Results: Between November 2016 and July 2020, 361 undergraduates underwent clinical sub-internship training at Taipei VGH. Among them, 218 were taught under the 7-year curriculum, and 143 were instructed under the 6-year curriculum. Based on baseline-adjusted ANCOVA results, medical students under the 7-year curriculum had a higher percentage of scores above the qualification standard than those under the 6-year curriculum at the mock OSCE-1 (7-year curriculum vs. 6-year curriculum: 33.8% [95% CI 32.0-35.7] vs. 28.2% [95% CI 25.9-30.4], p < 0.001), and mock OSCE-2 (7-year curriculum vs. 6-year curriculum: 89.4% [95% CI 87.4-91.4] vs. 84.0% [95% CI 81.5-86.4], p = 0.001). Moreover, medical students in the 7-year curriculum had a higher percentage of qualified stations in mock OSCE-1 (7-year curriculum vs. 6-year curriculum: 89.4% [95% CI 87.4-91.4] vs. 84.0% [95% CI 81.5-86.4], p = 0.001) and mock OSCE-2 (7-year curriculum vs. 6-year curriculum: 91.9% [95% CI 90.1-93.8] vs. 86.1% [95% CI 83.8-88.3], p = 0.001). After clinical sub-internship training, there were no differences in the percentage of scores above the qualification standard (7-year curriculum vs. 6-year curriculum: 33.5% [95% CI 32.2-34.9] vs. 34.6 [95% CI 32.9-36.3], p = 0.328) and percentage of qualified stations (7-year curriculum vs. 6-year curriculum: 89.4% [95% CI 88.1-90.7] vs. 90.2% [95% CI 88.6-91.8], p = 0.492).

Conclusions: At the beginning of the sub-internship, medical students under the 7-year curriculum had better OSCE performance than those under the 6-year curriculum. After the clinical sub-internship training in Taipei VGH, there was no difference in the national OSCE score between the 6- and 7-year curricula. Our study suggests that clinical sub-internship is crucial for the development of clinical skills and performance in the national OSCE.

Keywords: Clinical skills; Competency-based medical education; Curricular length; Curricular reform; OSCE; Sub-internship.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Curricular reform in Taiwan
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The difference in percentage of score above the qualification standard (%) between 7-year and 6-year curriculum after adjusted confounding factors
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The difference in percentage of qualified stations (%) between 7-year and 6-year curriculum after adjusted confounding factors
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abramson SB, Jacob D, Rosenfeld M, et al. A 3-year M.D. — accelerating careers, diminishing debt. N Engl J Med. 2013;369(12):1085–1087. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1304681. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Goldfarb S, Morrison G. The 3-year medical school — change or shortchange? N Engl J Med. 2013;369(12):1087–1089. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1306457. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Emanuel EJ, Fuchs VR. Shortening medical training by 30% Jama. 2012;307(11):1143–1144. doi: 10.1001/jama.2012.292. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chiu CH, Arrigo LG, Tsai D. Historical context for the growth of medical professionalism and curriculum reform in Taiwan. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2009;25(9):510–514. doi: 10.1016/S1607-551X(09)70558-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheng WC, Chen TY, Lee MS. Fill the gap between traditional and new era: The medical educational reform in Taiwan. Ci Ji Yi Xue Za Zhi = Tzu-Chi Medical J. 2019;31(4):211–216. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources