Medical educators developed and implemented an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for the assessment of resident physician weight loss counseling. The skills checklist allows for the identification of individual and overall counseling skills in need of improvement, and provision of targeted feedback.

Despite the need to provide weight management counseling to patients with obesity, resident physicians receive little relevant education and practice in performing this skill. As a result, residents report low levels of self-efficacy and often demonstrate limited performance competency. Structured educational interventions providing opportunities for residents to practice weight loss counseling along with objective assessment are lacking. This article describes the development and implementation of an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for the assessment of resident physician weight loss counseling. The OSCE included a brief (10-15 minute) educational session on the 5As counseling framework, followed by an 18-minute encounter with a standardized patient (SP). Resident performance in the OSCE was measured by use of a skills checklist composed of 23 pre-specified counseling skills. Each skill represents a specific element of communication used in effective weight loss counseling, and is based on the 5As counseling framework. The checklist was completed by the SP immediately following the encounter, and the percentage of skills performed was calculated.

OSCE Assessment Tool

Each skill is rated dichotomously, as “performed” or “not performed.” Five of the 23 items include four response options (not at all, only a little, somewhat, very). These five skills were rated as “performed” if the SP responded “only a little, somewhat, or very” to the scale, and as “not performed” if the SP responded “not at all.”