ASSESSMENTS
Assessments
Overview
About
Touchstone Institute specializes in creating large-scale competency examinations that reliably assess the skills of internationally and Canadian educated health professionals, and their readiness for practice in Canadian jurisdictions.
Assessment Values
A calm, supportive environment
- Examinees have access to exam orientation materials explaining exam content and procedures
- Support staff are trained to provide direction and answer all examinee queries
- For clinical exams, examinees are guided through the stations by announcements delivered through a sound system, so their focus is on exam content and not the process
Objective, fair assessments
- Practicing professionals and educators participate in exam development to ensure currency and authenticity
- Examiners are subject matter experts, they are trained and participate in calibration exercises before each exam
- Test administration protocols are standardized to ensure consistency
- Test accommodations and appeals procedures are available in support of fair access
Valid, reliable results
- Exams are constructed by our assessment experts in collaboration with subject matter experts
- Rigorous processes are employed to evaluate the accuracy of examination procedures and the calculation of results
- Reports are generated through an in-house psychometric team to test ongoing reliability and validity of all measurement tools
Formats
What to Expect at a Touchstone Institute Exam
The objective standardized clinical examination, or OSCE, is a performance examination that evaluates clinical proficiency. In an OSCE, examinees complete a series of clinical encounter stations where they interact with a standardized client. OSCEs are a highly valid assessment tool in measuring clinical ability.
OSCEs generally have up to 12 stations (See details on your exam). At the start of each OSCE station, examinees receive a brief written statement that introduces the presenting clinical problem and states the task the examinee needs to perform. Examinees must manage each presenting case as they would in a real life practice setting.
A multiple choice question (MCQ) examination is a selective response exam. In an MCQ exam, examinees demonstrate their knowledge by selecting the best answer of a series of options provided. In some cases the questions stand alone while in others they reference a scenario where the options represent clinical decisions.
Touchstone Institute uses tablet technology for MCQ exams and for scoring in OSCE stations. This technology has proven intuitive for exam participants, and allows us to reduce the amount of time needed to prepare an exam, process results, and has the benefit of reducing our ecological footprint.
Communicative competency refers to the ability to use language proficiently and effectively for a specific purpose and in a specific context. At Touchstone Institute we deliver language proficiency exams that are based on a communicative competency framework, and are specific to health care communication.
Communicative competency exams include assessments of listening, reading, writing and speaking. Speaking exams are role play based, Writing exams are scenario base. The Listening and Reading assessments are MCQ exams.
Touchstone Institute reserves the right to make any changes as required without advance notice.
An examinee interacts with a simulated client while being observed by an examiner
This is an orientation room
Live announcements and video monitoring from a central location on the exam floor
Our Assessments
ART Lab Exam
Assisted Reproductive Technology Laboratory Exam
CELBAN
Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment For Nurses
