The objective clinical evaluation in multiple stations in nutrition : Docrimological analysis

Abstract

Context: As part of its pedagogical reform, the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis integrated since 1998 the objective clinical evaluation in multiple stations (ECOSM), as sanctioning evaluation at the end of the internships. However, this method has never been evaluated in nutrition.
Objective: Carry out a docimological analysis of the ECOSM in nutrition intended for students of the 2nd year of the Second Cycle of Medical Studies (DCEM 2).
Methods: This was a transversal descriptive prospective study on the ECOSM for sanctioning purposes, students of DCEM 2 having carried out an internship at the National Institute of Nutrition in Tunis during the academic year 2017- 2018.
Results: The general average of the ECOSM for the population studied was 13.92 ± 1.45 out of 20. Half of the stations were of acceptable difficulty. More than a third of the questions (37%) had good or excellent discrimination. For all the stations combined, the average Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.62, indicating an unacceptable internal homogeneity with great heterogeneity. Likewise, the Cronbach's alpha coefficients calculated for all stations and all questions were strictly less than 0.7. The flattening coefficient was negative, equal to -0.946, and the distribution curve was platykurtic.
Conclusions: At the end of this work, we recommend making students and teachers particularly aware of the importance of evaluating the various objectives during the internship before the ECOSM test in order to fill in the gaps and ensure that the internship objectives are met.