Use of DOPPS as a Teaching Tool in Teaching Physiology Practicals to Undergraduate Medical Students.
Authors: Kanpurwala Muhammad Adnan , Yousuf Naved 
Published: April 2020

Introduction

The current summative methods of assessing the practical skills of Physiology during exit examination neither provide sufficient opportunities to the students for learning nor it provide adequate opportunity to the assessor to observe the trainee, thus limiting the learning with little or no feedback. The literature search also failed to reveal any such learning and assessment tool. Hence, there is a strong need to design such an instrument which should fulfill this gap. This study has been conducted to develop and validate an instrument for formative assessment of physiology practical skills of undergraduate students by direct observation of physiology practical skills (DOPPS). Another important aspect of the study is to assess the impact of feedback on learning of students by assessing the change in their scores using the DOPPS for physiology practical.

Methodology

The study was conducted in the laboratory of department of Physiology at a private undergraduate medical college after ethical approval. A total of 78 undergraduate students had participated in the study after informed consent. Along with this, 8 assessors who are faculty members in the department of Physiology were also trained to assess the two physiology practical skills (estimation of bleeding time and determination of blood group) of the participating students and provide them feedback at the end of the formative assessment. The students were randomly divided among two groups with three assessors present in each group at a time. All the students of the first group received the feedback at the end of their performance of practical skills while the students in the other group were silently observed by the assessors and no feedback was given at this point of time. Both the groups were reassessed for the same practical skills after a period of three weeks to assess the impact of feedback on their learning. This time the other group received the feedback at the end of the session. Score of both the groups for both the session were compared to assess the impact of observation and feedback on learning using DOPPS.

Results

Results showed significant difference in the assessment scores before and after a gap of three weeks between the two groups who received the feedback to the one who didn’t receive the feedback. The reliability of DOPPS was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and it is found to have an alpha value of 0.92.

Conclusion

It has been concluded from the study that students who received the feedback on their performance scored more as compare to those who didnt receive the feedback using DOPPS as a formative assessment tool. The tool is found to be valid and reliable and has good construct and face validity and it can be use as a standard tool for formative assessment of students practical’s skills in undergraduate physiology. In future the tool may also be used in post graduation in physiology and other basic medical sciences to assess its impact on learning.

Descriptive score of students performing practical skills under observation using DOPPS

ITEM

N

MEAN

SD

MIN

MAX

Demonstrates understanding of relevant technique/procedure/practical skill

174

3.72

.74

1

5

Pre‐procedure Preparation

174

3.65

.81

1

6

Demonstrates steps of Procedure or practical skill

174

3.55

.90

1

6

score of procedures or practical skills × 3

174

10.65

2.70

3

18

Appropriate Sample handling

174

3.58

.90

1

6

post procedure management

174

3.58

.93

1

6

score of post procedure management × 2

174

7.16

1.87

2

12

Produce, analyze and report appropriate laboratory data

174

3.56

.97

1

6

score of analysis and report × 3

174

10.67

2.91

3

18

Laboratory safety/Biosafety

174

3.56

.96

1

6

ethical skills

174

3.66

1.02

1

6

communication skills

174

3.68

.96

1

6

demonstrate professionalism

174

3.67

.88

1

6

overall ability to perform procedure

174

3.65

.91

2

6

score of ability × 8

174

29.19

7.33

16

48

TOTAL. 1

174

54.01

11.26

27

83

Cronbach’s Alpha and itemtotal Statistics for practical 1 using DOPPS

Item

Corrected Item Total Correlation

Cronbach’s alpha item deleted

Demonstrates understanding of relevant technique/procedure/practical skill

.526

.94

Pre‐procedure Preparation

.598

.937

Demonstrates steps of Procedure or practical skill

.712

.932

Appropriate Sample handling

.835

.926

post procedure management

.787

.929

Produce, analyze and report appropriate laboratory data

.812

.927

Laboratory safety/Biosafety

.794

.928