Greet Patients, Gain Extra Marks: RGUHS

A smile from the doctor goes a long way in curing an illness. Having realized this, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) will now award physiotherapy students with additional marks for greeting patients and introducing themselves. RGUHS plans to introduce the system in medical and dental courses soon.

The two-fold plan includes an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and an Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE). The focus will be on assessing interaction with patients. The exams will be introduced in the physiotherapy course from the current academic year.

Both OSCE and OSPE are objective concepts used to test students' social and communication skills. "It's a completely skill-based assessment. In OSCE, examiners will observe a candidate's interaction with patients. Marks will be awarded for every aspect of the assessment of the patient. If doctors don't interact much with patients, it is difficult to analyze problems," RGUHS Curriculum Development Cell director G V Niranjan said. He added that the examiners will follow a structured assessment protocol.

Niranjan said in conventional courses, examiners don't observe doctor-patient interaction. The content examined is limited. Now, the activities will be divided between groups and 'stations' allotted for each activity.

"For instance, if a patient has a fever, the first station will be allotted only to study the history of the case, the second one for examining the facial nerves and so on,'' he said. The stations are categorized into two types --- observatory and response.

"At observatory stations, examiners will be present to assess the candidate's interaction with patients," he said. A pilot project based on this concept, carried out at some colleges, received good response from the students.

Niranjan added that the concept is likely to be introduced in medical and dental courses from next year. "It is easier to introduce it in the physiotherapy course as the university is the regulatory body.

For medical and dental courses, regulatory bodies are the Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India. We have to follow their guidelines. However, we have requested for permission to introduce the system," he added.