A Study to Test a New Pelvic Examination Assessment Tool

Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust60 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to show that a new assessment tool for pelvic examination is valid and reliable.

Physical examination of the pelvis is an important core skill that medical students need to acquire. However, due to its intimate nature some students are graduating unable to perform competent pelvic examinations. At present, evaluation of the medical students competence at pelvic examination is done by subjective faculty assessment. This assessment is typically performed at the end of the teaching block and is based on the assessors' recollection of the students' performance. This kind of assessment has been shown to have poor validity and reliability. This is in contrast to objective structured assessments of technical skill (OSATS), which use task specific and global rating scales and have been used to evaluate a wide range of clinical and surgical skills. However, no studies to date have evaluated an assessment tool for pelvic examination. In this study the investigators aim to determine the validity and reliability of an OSATS for pelvic examination. In addition, the investigators aim to identify factors that influence the scores in OSATS.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Female Pelvic Examination

Interventions

Observed Structured Assessment Tool in Pelvic ExaminationPROCEDURE

Participants will be asked to perform a pelvic examination including a speculum and bimanual examination on a pelvic model. They will be asked to approach the pelvic model as if it were a real patient.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Final year medical students starting their Obstetrics and Gynaecology placement * Final year medical students finishing their Obstetrics and Gynaecology placement * Pre Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology registered junior doctors doing a Obstetrics and Gynaecology placement. * Signed Consent Form Exclusion Criteria: • None

Locations (1)

Birmingham Womens Hospital

Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Validity of assessment tool

Both validity and reliability are of equal importance so there will be two primary outcomes. Validity will be tested using the proxy measure of construct validity. This will be demonstrated if the results of the OSATS reflect the participant experience.

Time frame: Day 1

Reliability of assessment tool

Reliability will be measured using inter-rater reliability between 3 assessors who will be blinded to the other assessors' marks.

Time frame: Day 1

Secondary Outcomes

Factors other than the stage in training that may influence proficiency in pelvic examination

We aim to identify other factors that may influence the participants' score in OSATS in pelvic examination. We will identify potential areas in a questionnaire administered to participant's prior the examination. This information will be collated before the examination in a participant information form. Information regarding gender, age, ethnicity, confidence in examination, interest in future career in obstetrics and gynaecology will be collected as secondary outcome measures.

Time frame: Day 1

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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