The “new-normal” osce examination: Executing in the covid-19 era

Abstract

In this unprecedented situation of COVID-19 era, the educational institutions have to attune not only the teaching strategies but also the assessment. Similarly, just as COVID precautions have become the “new normal” practice, hence implementation changes during face-to-face examinations may become standard practice in the Post-COVID era. The Objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) which usually require a face-to-face assessment of skills, posed a special challenge to health professionals in COVID-19. This commentary paper is written on shared experiences of the examination cell principal resource faculty for OSCE and exam coordinators. It addresses how to plan and implement objective, valid, feasible and reliable clinical skills examinations (OSCEs) keeping in place COVID precautions to ensure the utmost wellbeing of all stakeholders involved.