Report Workshop OSCE Bern: heartiness & professionalism

Shortly after 7 o’clock in the morning on Saturday, 15.07.2017, my colleague, Dr. med. Beitz-Radzio and I enter the building of the Bern University of Applied Sciences on Murtenstraße. We were warmly welcomed in the lounge which was available to the examiners and the actors for the day for the OSCE exam. The briefing just before the start of the exam was held in High German due to our presence. This was the 2nd OSCE in the whole course of Physiotherapy – “Fundamentals of Treatment and Musculoskeletal System”.

Mrs. Beatrice Buss, Head of Qualification and Examination, had invited us, since we heard of her many years experienced structured and successful OSCE at the UCAN conference in Dusseldorf and we looked forward to witness them ourselves. There were three circuits at this OSCE. A total of 46 students were examined. We were allowed to “run along” at the 2nd Circuit. Before that, we sat down with Prof. Buss and her co-worker to talk about all the preparations and the exact course of the exam.

Eight stations were set up identically on two floors in the building. In all exam rooms, the signal gong was programmed synchronously and controlled by radio: 4 minutes for the preparation, 8 minutes for the examination. When changing the stations, there was no rush at all in the hallway. In the exam, my colleague and I were impressed by the performance of the students (2nd semester), especially the patient communication. The professionalism of the examiners as well as the actors also impressed us a lot. After the 2nd Circuit, Prof. Buss was available again for us, answered our questions and discussed with us various aspects of the OSCE in physiotherapy and veterinary medicine. Around 3 pm we started our way back to Munich – with not only chocolate from Switzerland, but also a lot of input as well as new ideas.

At this point, my colleague and I would like to thank Mrs. Prof. Buss and her colleagues for the invitation, the given insights and the very pleasant and constructive exchange. We thank UCAN for the idea of the workshop and the financing of this valuable exchange trip.

Author: Hao Stoll, research associate at the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich.