Inter-school variations in the standard of examiners' graduation-level OSCE judgements.

Introduction: Ensuring equivalence in high-stakes performance exams is important for patient safety and candidate fairness. We compared inter-school examiner differences within a shared OSCE and resulting impact on students' pass/fail categorisation.

Methods: The same 6 station formative OSCE ran asynchronously in 4 medical schools, with 2 parallel circuits/school.

A realist evaluation of how, why and when objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) are experienced as an authentic assessment of clinical preparedness.

Introduction: Whilst rarely researched, the authenticity with which Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) simulate practice is arguably critical to making valid judgements about candidates' preparedness to progress in their training. We studied how and why an OSCE gave rise to different experiences of authenticity for different participants under different circumstances.

Methods: We used Realist evaluation, collecting data through interviews/focus groups from participants across four UK medical schools who participated in an OSCE which aimed to enhance authenticity.

Using video-based examiner score comparison and adjustment (VESCA) to compare the influence of examiners at different sites in a distributed objective structured clinical exam (OSCE).

Purpose: Ensuring equivalence of examiners' judgements within distributed objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) is key to both fairness and validity but is hampered by lack of cross-over in the performances which different groups of examiners observe. This study develops a novel method called Video-based Examiner Score Comparison and Adjustment (VESCA) using it to compare examiners scoring from different OSCE sites for the first time.

Materials/ Methods: Within a summative 16 station OSCE, volunteer students were videoed on each station and all examiners invited to score station-specific comparator videos in addition to usual student scoring.

Enhancing authenticity, diagnosticity and quivalence (AD-Equiv) in multicentre OSCE exams in health professionals education: protocol for a complex intervention study.

Introduction: Objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) are a cornerstone of assessing the competence of trainee healthcare professionals, but have been criticised for (1) lacking authenticity, (2) variability in examiners' judgements which can challenge assessment equivalence and (3) for limited diagnosticity of trainees' focal strengths and weaknesses. In response, this study aims to investigate whether (1) sharing integrated-task OSCE stations across institutions can increase perceived authenticity, while (2) enhancing assessment equivalence by enabling comparison of the standard of examiners' judgements between institutions using a novel methodology (video-based score comparison and adjustment (VESCA)) and (3) exploring the potential to develop more diagnostic signals from data on students' performances.

Methods And Analysis: The study will use a complex intervention design, developing, implementing and sharing an integrated-task (research) OSCE across four UK medical schools.

High and fluctuating levels of ovarian hormones induce an anxiogenic effect, which can be modulated under stress conditions: Evidence from an assisted reproductive rodent model.

Elevated levels of endogenous ovarian hormones are conditions commonly experienced by women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Additionally, infertility-associated stress and treatment routines are factors that together may have a highly negative impact on female emotionality, which can be aggravated when several cycles of ART are needed to attempt pregnancy. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high and fluctuating levels of gonadal hormones induced by repeated ovarian stimulation on the stress response in rodents.