The Impact of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)

The Impact of OSCE on Clinical Competence, Anxiety, and Educational Satisfaction in Dental Students

This study aims to compare two different educational and assessment approaches used for teaching pre-extraction clinical evaluation skills to undergraduate dental students. Before performing a simple tooth extraction, students are expected to obtain a medical history, identify systemic risk factors, determine extraction indications, communicate effectively with patients, and make appropriate clinical decisions.

Participants will be assigned to either an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE)-based educational approach or a traditional teaching and assessment approach. Students' clinical performance, communication skills, clinical reasoning abilities, learning satisfaction, self-confidence, and examination-related anxiety will be evaluated and compared between groups.

The findings of this study are expected to provide evidence regarding the effectiveness of OSCE in undergraduate dental education and contribute to the development of more effective training and assessment strategies for clinical competency acquisition.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Education; Tooth Extraction; OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination)

Detailed Description

Simple tooth extraction is one of the most frequently performed procedures in dental practice. Although the technical aspects of extraction are important, successful patient management requires accurate medical history taking, identification of systemic risk factors, appropriate treatment planning, clinical decision-making, and effective communication with patients. Deficiencies in these competencies may adversely affect patient safety and treatment outcomes.

Traditional educational approaches in dental schools primarily focus on theoretical knowledge and may not adequately provide opportunities for students to demonstrate and apply their knowledge in realistic clinical scenarios. Consequently, variations may occur among students regarding diagnostic reasoning, risk assessment, communication skills, and clinical decision-making.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a structured and standardized assessment method widely used in health professions education. OSCE enables students to demonstrate clinical competencies through scenario-based stations that simulate real-life patient encounters. Previous studies have shown that OSCE can improve students' clinical performance, decision-making abilities, and educational satisfaction while providing a more objective assessment of clinical competence. However, concerns regarding examination-related anxiety and the resource-intensive nature of OSCE remain subjects of ongoing investigation.

The present study aims to compare an OSCE-based educational and assessment model with a traditional teaching and assessment approach in the context of pre-extraction clinical evaluation. The educational content focuses on competencies required before performing a simple tooth extraction, including patient history taking, identification of systemic conditions that may affect treatment, determination of extraction indications, patient communication, informed consent procedures, and clinical reasoning.

Students participating in the study will receive training according to their assigned educational method. Following the educational intervention, participants will be evaluated using standardized assessment tools. Primary outcomes will include measures of clinical competency and performance related to pre-extraction patient evaluation. Secondary outcomes will include learning satisfaction, self-confidence in learning, and examination-related anxiety.

By examining both educational effectiveness and learner perceptions, this study seeks to determine whether OSCE-based training offers advantages over traditional educational approaches in developing clinical competencies required for safe and effective dental practice. The findings may contribute to evidence-based improvements in undergraduate dental curricula and provide additional data regarding the implementation of OSCE in dental education programs.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 104

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey (Türkiye)
  • Yahşihan
    • Kirikkale, Yahşihan, Turkey (Türkiye), 71450
      • Kırıkkale University Faculty of Dentistry

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

This study was conducted as a prospective randomized controlled study to evaluate the skills of 4th-year students at Faculty of Dentistry regarding a clinical case with an indication for simple tooth extraction. The study population consisted of 4th-year students at Faculty of Dentistry who had received theoretical and practical training on tooth extraction within the scope of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery course.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Fourth-year student enrolled in the Faculty of Dentistry.
• Completion of theoretical and practical training in tooth extraction.
• Age 18-25 years.
• Voluntary agreement to participate and provision of informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Enrollment in an academic year other than the fourth year or at another university.
• Refusal to participate or withdrawal of informed consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Group 1; Students assessed in the OSCE laboratory
Group 2; Students assessed using the traditional method

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Primary Outcome Measure	Title: Clinical performance score Description: Clinical performance will be evaluated immediately after the assessment using the Global Rating Scale (GRS). The GRS assesses history taking, risk assessment, clinical reasoning, decision-making, patient communication, and overall clinical competence. Scores range from 1 to 5 for each domain, with higher scores indicating better clinical performance. Time Frame: Immediately after assessment (Day 1)	1. day
State anxiety level	State anxiety will be measured before and after the assessment using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - State Form (STAI-I). Total scores range from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater state anxiety.	Immediately before and immediately after assessment (Day 1)
Student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning	Student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning will be evaluated immediately after the educational intervention using the Turkish version of the 12-item Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale. The scale consists of 12 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, with total scores ranging from 12 to 60. Higher scores indicate greater student satisfaction and self-confidence in learning.	Immediately after the educational intervention (Day 1)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Secondary Outcome Measure	Knowledge retention will be assessed 2 weeks after the educational intervention using the Global Rating Scale (GRS). Students will evaluate a standardized clinical case similar to that used during training. The GRS rates each domain on a 5-point scale (1 = lowest performance, 5 = highest performance). Higher scores indicate better knowledge retention.	2 weeks after the educational intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Kırıkkale University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 20, 2026
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): May 4, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 12, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 17, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 24, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 17, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: education; OSCE; tooth extraction
• Other Study ID Numbers: Decision No: 2026.02.04

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified individual participant data, including demographic characteristics, Global Rating Scale (GRS) scores, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-I) scores, Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale scores, and knowledge retention assessment results, will be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author following publication of the study results.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No