The ABA’s current Part 2 (Oral) Examination will become the APPLIED Examination. Beginning in 2017, its content and format will change to include elements of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) in addition to the traditional oral examination questions. A dedicated assessment center is being created in Raleigh, NC to accommodate all APPLIED Examinations.
The OSCE assesses skills such as history-taking, physical exam, procedural skills, clinical decision-making, counseling, professionalism, and interpersonal communication. The OSCE in the APPLIED Examination will consist of a series of short simulated clinical situations in which each candidate is evaluated on by different examiners at each station. All candidates rotate through the same stations, completing all the stations in the circuit. This structure will allow objective assessment of candidate clinical skills and the application of their decisions in a standard manner in a variety of scenarios important for the safe practice of anesthesia.
Each station in the OSCE has a very specific task to complete. Thus, an OSCE is not a high-fidelity full rescue simulation. Further, completion of an OSCE will not provide credit for the ABA’s Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) Program’s Part IV Simulation Education Course requirement.
