Project Summary

The emergence of COVID-19 as a global health burden has precipitated the ‘new normal’ of social/physical distancing and increased demand for healthcare services. Seamless clinical training is never more important than now in order to meet the demands of increasing the number of clinical professionals available to the populace. Meanwhile, the inability to conduct traditional physical assessment and evaluation of clinical students during examination has lately become a challenge of the COVID-19 era. Digital technologies hold promises for improving clinical training, but for change to occur; medical educators must effectively integrate virtual methods for simulating real-life clinical scenarios into students’ examination while providing feedback for improvement. It is against this background that this project is envisioned to focus on developing a model for online assessment and evaluation of clinical science students. The development of this model aims at providing an alternative to recruiting patients for examination purposes as it intends to minimize the rigour associated with obtaining informed consent from patients. The incorporation of virtual methods into clinical assessment will increase the possibility of simulating difficult clinical scenarios that may not be accessible or available using traditional means. This study focuses on the development of an alternative assessment means in the form of a virtual model, Obafemi Awolowo University Virtual and Augmented Reality Examination System for Clinical Students (OVARECS) that will test the whole spectrum of the three domains of learning necessary for clinical competencies during the COVID-19 global pandemic and beyond. The objectives of the study are therefore, to develop a virtual model- OVARECS, for assessing the cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills of clinical students, test and evaluate its effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility in clinical students’ examination. Also to engage the various stakeholders that are involved in the assessment and evaluation of clinical students in the use of the virtual model. Ethical clearance for the project will be obtained from the Ethics and Research Committee of the Institute of Public Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The study will be a quasi-experimental, mixed method design that consists of qualitative and quantitative methods. This project will be conducted among the Medical, Dental and Nursing clinical students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and will be conducted in four phases with participants categorized into intervention and control groups. The categorization of the study into unique but interdependent phases is to ensure that the key components of the study are covered. Furthermore, participatory approach to relevant evidence gathering will be ensured in conjunction with critical stakeholders within the study contexts. Long-term impacts of the project include standardization of the testing and evaluation process across training institutions nationwide in alignment with global best practices. Most importantly, the society at large will benefit from a regular turnout of clinical practitioners trained to proficiency without jeopardizing patient safety. The project has immense potential for long-term human capital development and socioeconomic benefits.