Come to the dark side- Make your own OSPES: a pilot study

Background: Physiology for BDS is a tediously long course crammed into one year, students going through this cognitive overlook tend to overlook the clinical aspects and underperform in OSPEs , as they are exerting efforts in learning the core content Aim: to develop a learning technique to promote deeper learning of the practical and critical aspects of Physiology and perform better in the OSPE Methods: a longitudinal study was conducted with the newly enrolled BDS class of 2018 (n=50), after debriefing and a preliminary OSPE, they were debriefed about the technique of the ROSPE (reverse OSPE) in which they were to make their own questions with answers already provided at the stations. Feedback was provided and reflections of students were recorded and analyzed thematically. After every ROSPE, the test scores of the subsequent OSPEs were compared with the class of the previous year. Results: test scores of students who had undergone the ROSPE interventions were remarkably higher as compared to those of the previous batch (p=0.0050,0.001,0.001) and results in Professional examination were also better. Thematic analysis showed the ROSPE to be a confidence building activity that promoted deeper learning and team work. Conclusion: the ROSPE is a successful intervention to improve practical and clinical skills for the OSPE exam. Key words : peer assisted learning, OSPE, practical skills, cognitive load ,physiology