Features of preparation of foreign students for taking objective structured practical (clinical) examinations in a combined learning format

Introduction and objectives

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the beginning of a full-scale military invasion, the opportunities for conducting offline training at the medical university have significantly decreased. This made it necessary to find mechanisms to ensure the continuity of medical education of students for all disciplines in general and “Hygiene and Ecology” in particular. Another new challenge was introducing a new form of final exams for university graduates, which also required students and teachers to focus on preparing for this format of knowledge control. This defined the objectives of this study to analyze and summarize the peculiarities of preparing international students for taking an objective structured practical (clinical) examination (OSP(C)E-2) in the “Hygiene and Ecology, Healthcare Organization” station, in the context of combined (distance and in-person) learning.

Materials and methods

Informational data on training organization systems, filling of training platforms, video hosting, and messengers, the results of intermediate controls of students’ knowledge during the exam (3rd year) and final module control (6th year), and final graduation control (OSP(C)E-2) are used as research material.

The method of pedagogical analysis and observation, situational analysis, comparative method, content analysis, and methods of variable statistics, including the non-parametric coefficient of Spearman’s rank correlation, Wilcoxon’s T-test (dependent samples), Kendall’s correlation coefficient, were used in the study.

Results

The content of suggested informational resources was analyzed, and the structure of preparational steps for the final exam and organization of learning in the combined form of education were evaluated.

The effectiveness of the proposed measures was proven by the results of the “Hygiene and Ecology, Healthcare Organization” station of the OSP(C)E-2 examination taken by international students. An analysis of the results of the mixed (online and in-person) administration of the OSP(C)E-2 examination by international students showed a 100% pass rate.

Conclusion

The developed steps have helped to make students resilient and to ease the stressful aspects of the transition to distance learning for English-speaking students during the periods of strict containment measures of the coronavirus disease pandemic and safety measures in wartime conditions.

According to all calculated indices using a sufficient set of variable statistics methods, no significant difference in the results between students of online and offline forms of attestation was found. According to Wilcoxon’s W-test (unrelated samples), the difference was not statistically significant; according to Kendall’s correlation coefficient, no correlation was found, as well as according to Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

These achievements stand as proven evidence of the effectiveness of the aforementioned teaching methods and approaches in the combined learning format during these challenging times.