Medical Student Perspectives on a Simulation-Based Evidence-Based Medicine Competency Assessment

We expect medical students to be able to apply evidence-based medicine (EBM) skills in the context of the clinical care of patients, but until now assessment of this domain has focused primarily on decontextualized knowledge tests. New performance-based EBM competence assessments using Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are being developed and tested. Understanding how students experience and interact with this simulation-based assessment of EBM competence would enable us to improve the modality. 

We recruited graduating medical students from one medical school who had recently completed an immersive multi station readiness-for-residency OSCE (Night onCall) which included a case-based EBM assessment and conducted individual interviews to explore their perceptions of receiving EBM feedback. The interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed by three health science librarians.