OSCE Notes

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is used to assess the clinical skills of students and residents. Candidates perform clinical tasks in a series of clinical test stations while interacting with a trained lay-person (or actor), called a standardized patient (SP). The SP pretends to be a patient with a real illness. At each station, candidates are expected to interact with the SP in the same way that they interact with actual patients. The task(s) for each clinical station may involve taking a history, conducting a physical examination, making initial management decisions and/or addressing issues raised by the patient.