Touchstone Institute Perspectives Series (TIPS)

Have you ever wondered if the specific set of factors you are assigned to on OSCE exam day has an impact on your performance? As with any exam that is in high demand and will be attempted by many examinees, we want to accommodate as many examinees as possible and this is only possible by having multiple exam tracks, including rest stations in addition to the scored stations, and holding multiple exam times and days. The Research and Analysis department at Touchstone Institute wanted to answer this question to ensure examinees are offered a fair, valid and equivalent assessment. Watch the video to learn more about the investigation.

Healthcare professionals are in short supply in Ontario and globally, a situation exacerbated by the pandemic. Ontario has one of the lowest ratios of doctors to population in Canada and continues facing shortages in health human resources due to retirements, fatigue, and dissatisfaction. Strategies to increase the supply of healthcare workers are vital to building a resilient system to cope with the health sector challenges that Ontario will face in the future. There has been a historical reliance on internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs) to fill the gap. They are here but are often underutilized or face lengthy pathways to acceptance and registration. More effective strategies to integrate them into the workforce are needed. Competency assessments are a proven method that is efficient and effective.

This study compared the modified borderline group method to two adaptations namely, regression-based, and four-facet Rasch model borderline group methods. Results indicated that the two adaptations may be more defensible than modified BGM in the context of a smaller OSCE.

Occupation-specific language assessment is a dynamic procedure and CELBAN has overcome many changes to the nursing industry, language benchmarks, and the pandemic indicating it is a resilient option for IENs and regulators.

Findings demonstrated relatively high inter-rater reliability and intra-rater reliability, and that CLB-based speaking descriptors (CLB 6-9) provided sufficient information for raters to discriminate examinees’ oral proficiency.

Examiner Based Variance can affect test taker outcomes, the aim of this study was to investigate examiner based effect of differential rater functioning over time (DRIFT).

The purpose of standard setting in health professions education is to facilitate decisions following the assessment of competence at admissions, during training or at certification.

Tablet-based assessments Offer benefits over scanable-paper assessments, but what is the impact on assessment scores?