Barriers to Appropriate Standard Performance of an Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Abstract

Since 1960s, many experts criticized the use of traditional examinations to assess the skills of medical trainees at all levels and many efforts implemented to create a feasible instrument to measure these skills. Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a modern type of evaluation which is used in many psychiatric and other clinical centers worldwide and has shown a credible validity and reliability. This editorial highlights controversies among advocates and opponents and barriers to appropriate standard performance of this method which has been used in the oral examination of the Board of Psychiatry in Iran since 2006.