COMPARING OSCE/OSPE SCORES OF BIOCHEMISTRY LABORATORY IN MALE AND FEMALE NURSING STUDENTS AT SHAHID BEHESHTI UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES FROM 2011 TO 2015

Introduction:
Since gender differences may influence on medical education exams, this study was conducted to compare Objective Structured Clinical Examination/Objective Structured Procedural Examination (OSCE/OSPE) scores of biochemistry laboratory in male and female nursing students at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from 2011 to 2015.

Methodology:
A retrospective descriptive analysis was performed on the scores of 649 nursing students. Data were collected with a demographic questionnaire and an assessment checklist. Descriptive statistics, t-test, analysis of variances and Schaffe’s test were used for data analysis.

Results:
Of the 649 scores, 361 and 288 were related to female and male students respectively. Mean scores were 11.6±1.83 for females and 11.2±1.75 for males (total score was 14). The difference in OSCE/OSPE scores between female and male students was significant (p=0.02). Means of OSCE/OSPE for each year from 2011 to 2015 revealed a statistical significance only in 2012 (p=0.01). There was a significance difference between OSCE/OSPE average score in age group under 20 years of age and 25 to 29 years of age compared with other age groups (p<0.05).

Conclusions:
There was a significant difference between mean scores of female and male students and the performance of females was relatively better than males.