Objective Structured Clinical Examinations with simulated patients in postgraduate psychology training: Student perceptions

Objective Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) involving simulated patients (SPs) are being incorporated into professional psychology training to teach and assess competencies. However, students' perceptions of SP use in their education are mixed. Moreover, there are limited reports of student perceptions of OSCEs in psychology beyond quantitative measures. This is the first report of extensive use of feedback in an OSCE in psychology. We report a content analysis of the reflection task completed by all students, focusing on student perceptions of aspects of the OSCEs that impacted their learning. Methods Postgraduate psychology students' (n = 18) descriptions of OSCEs were content analysed, with 11 themes reported. Results Findings support the use of multiple sources of feedback to assess student competencies and support students' learning. In particular, verbal feedback from SPs and educators in addition to the use of recording and marking technology and opportunity to engage with an academic mentor when undertaking OSCEs were highlighted as important learning strategies. Conclusions Overall, SPs were perceived as useful and valuable in preparing students for clinical fieldwork. Incorporating OSCEs into postgraduate training, both to assess competencies but also to support student learning, was perceived positively by students.