Development Strategies in Medical Education

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Bahador F, Javanmard Z, Sabahi A, Ehtesham H, Jouhari Z, Farahi S R. Implementing a practical skills assessment examination in internship health information technology students. DSME 2026; 12 (4) :391-404
URL: http://dsme.hums.ac.ir/article-1-526-en.html

Introduction: Systematic evaluations have a direct impact on improving the educational process and achieving educational goals during the internship. The aim of this study is to conduct an examination for practical skills assessment in internship health information technology students.
Methods: This descriptive-cross-sectional study was conducted on 59 health information technology students in the internships field over three consecutive years. The students were selected by census method. The test instrument was researcher-made checklists containing questions from six stations  include coding, filling, statistics, information technology, admission and discharge and insurance in hospital information management departments. The total station scores were 20 points, and the scores were divided into four levels: very poor (0-5), poor (6-10), average (11-15), and good (16-20). Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 21 software and descriptive statistics including mean, frequency, and graphs.
Results: Results showed that 71.2 percent of the participants (students) were female and the rest were male. Most of the faculty participants were female. The average score was 17.53 out of 20 (minimum score 12 and maximum 20), which is considered good. The highest score was related to admissions and the lowest score was related to insurance and statistics.
Discussion: The practical skills assessment examination for the internship, such as the OSCE, provides the opportunity to assess the professional skills and competencies of the students with objective criteria. This examination can be used as a complement to other assessment methods in the internship field, due to its objectivity and providing feedback to the students on their performance, it can provide high-impact training for the students.