Developing an iOSCE presents unique challenges. For example, there is a need to balance the inclusiveness of participating professions in each scenario with realism, and the need to ensure that learners have opportunities to demonstrate their different interprofessional skills within scenarios. Nevertheless, this initial work has helped to ensure that the perspectives of the professions involved in the IPE curriculum were captured in a fair and equitable manner. In addition, we found that the modified Delphi process was an effective tool to obtain consensus amongst the professions for the foundational work required for this study. The next steps in this study involve two full-day writing workshops to develop the top five topic themes into clinical scenarios for use in the iOSCE that could accommodate any 5 of the 10 health professions at the study site. Participants will work in small, interprofessional groups led by a facilitator to accomplish this task. An iterative process of scenario review, refinement, pilot testing and evaluation for validity and reliability will be used to address challenges, with the help of clinical subject matter and OSCE experts, confederates (trained actors to role play scenarios), and student volunteers. Finally, a series of focus groups will be held with purposefully selected faculty, students, and standardized patients involved in this process to evaluate their experiences in the development of the iOSCE.
Scott Reeves (Editor-in-Chief)
For more information read: Journal of Interprofessional Care (January 2011), 25 (1), pg. 73-74.