Gabriel Lau¹
Barry Soans¹, Mark Philips¹, Anne Rogan¹, Brendan Grabau¹ and Nicole Groombridge¹
1 RANZCR

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) commissioned a full-scale assessment review in 2015. One finding was that the Viva Fellowship Examination was no longer fit-for-purpose. There was a lack of standardisation in the format, no formal standard setting, was prone to examiner variation and potential bias, and was somewhat contrived and not reflective of current clinical practice. 

Assessment working groups were established to re-conceptualise the assessment of clinical competence in radiology, and a new Objective Structured Clinical Examination in Radiology (OSCER) was designed. After much planning and development (and delays due to the pandemic), the first OSCER was administered in June 2023. 

The new Objective Structured Clinical Examination in Radiology enhances reliability by having lots of stations and data points. It is highly standardised through careful blueprinting, case selection, specific questions, and clear marking guides with rubrics. The same cases are now shown for all candidates on the same day. The potential for examiner variation and bias is minimised, and examiners are routinely trained and engage in multiple calibration processes. The oral interaction format still allows for deep probing of knowledge, understanding and higher-order thinking with real-time clarification. Borderline Regression standard setting has also been implemented. And most importantly, the examination is now less contrived, and more reflective of clinical practice. 

The re-design from Viva to OSCER was part of a “whole of assessment program” review, to ensure the value and purpose of all assessments and examinations in the training program. The OSCER is a way of utilising OSCE format design criteria, but then thinking about how to best use the format to assessment clinical competence in radiology training. The OSCERs are now RANZCR’s capstone assessment of clinical reasoning, thinking and the integration of the relevant knowledge and ability of a clinical radiologist. 

References (maximum three) 

RANZCR OSCER