Validity and Reliability of pre-internship Objective Structured Clinical Examination in Shiraz Medical School

Introduction: objective structured clinical examination (osce) is one ofthe most appropriate methods for assessment of clinical skills.validity andreliability assurance is a mandatory factor for any assessment tool. in shirazuniversity of medical sciences, medical students’ clinical competences areevaluated by a pre-internship osce. this study is designed to examine thevalidity and reliability of this exam. validity is the extent to which the testmeasures what it intends to measure. reliability refers to the accuracy ofmeasurement and the consistency of test results.methods: content validity was evaluated by expert opinion about blueprintingand station checklists. to determine the construct validity, station scorescorrelation with the total osce score and inter station correlations werecalculated. the inter examiner reliability was assessed by coefficient ofcorrelation.results: content validity was established by alignment between the curriculumand the blueprint using expert opinion. correlation of the station scores withthe total osce score were positive and statistically significant in all stationsexcept the 16th station (suturing). inter examiner reliability coefficients ofcorrelations ranged 0.33 – 0.99, with an average of 0.83.conclusions: our findings support the assumption that the pre-internshiposce is valid, reliable and suitable to assess students’ clinical competence.validity and reliability studies should be performed for all new assessmenttools, particularly in high-stakes assessments.