An Objective Structured Clinical Examination assesses a candidate's clinical competence, including his/her applied knowledge, history taking and physical examination skills, communication skills, clinical reasoning and patient management. OSCEs are a standard assessment tool used by medical and other health profession schools and licensing boards, including the Medical Council of Canada, The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada and the Clinician Assessment for Practice Program.

Simulated patients are used in OSCEs and are carefully trained so that their portrayals are standardized, allowing for the fair assessment of candidates.

To view a video showing LRC staff describing how an OSCE is delivered, see http://currency.medicine.dal.ca/videos/capp.htm courtesy of the Clinician Assessment for Practice Program.

Resource for Candidates
An excellent new resource, OSCE and Clinical Skills Handbook, has been developed by Dr. Katrina Hurley, a resident in Dalhousie's Dept of Emergency Medicine. The book is available at bookstores and on-line (www.elsevier.com).