Evaluation of multifaceted assessment of the fifth-year medical students in family medicine clerkship, Saudi Arabia experience

Abstract

Background: There are few data on assessment methods in the field of family medicine in Arab countries. Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) in 2017 established the family medicine clerkship rotation for the fifth-year medical students. The objective of the study is to evaluate the multifaceted assessment of family medicine clerkship and their correlation to each other among fifth-year medical students in IAU. Methods: We examined the performance of 455 fifth-year medical students from two batches (2018 and 2019) in the continuous course assessment, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), extended matching questions (EMQ), and multiple-choice questions exams (MCQ). Results: The students’ total mark range was 55.16 to 95.64. Batch 2018 and females had significantly higher marks (p=0.000). On the other hand, no significant associations were seen between the total marks and the semester in which the clerkship was taken or the order of group in each semester (p= 0.464 and 0.980 respectively). Significant positive correlations were seen between all forms of assessment during the family medicine clerkship (p=0.000). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that different assessment methods used to evaluate medical students during the family medicine clerkship were correlated. The performances of the female and the first batch were superior. This finding is the basis for introducing a platform for developing modern learning and the improvement of the assessment standards in family medicine clerkship rotation.