Wearable camera may improve clinical skills assessment in medical education

Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) are widely used to evaluate medical students' practical competencies, communication, professionalism, and clinical decision-making

A pilot study from Japan suggests that a wearable, examiner-mounted neck camera could enhance the assessment and review of clinical skills during the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), particularly for procedures requiring close observation of hand movements and technique.

OSCEs are widely used to evaluate medical students' practical competencies, communication, professionalism, and clinical decision-making before they enter clinical practice. However, conventional fixed cameras used for recording these examinations often fail to capture fine procedural details because of limited viewing angles and visual obstructions.

To address this challenge, researchers at Juntendo University evaluated the feasibility of a neck-mounted wearable camera (THINKLET) during a simulated OSCE focused on 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode placement. The study, published in JMIR Medical Education, involved one fifth-year medical student and nine experienced medical educators.

The wearable camera recorded more assessable observations than conventional fixed cameras (206 versus 185), particularly for tasks requiring precise visualization of hand movements and electrode placement. Researchers also found moderate to strong agreement between live assessments and video-based reviews, with most evaluation checklist items showing agreement rates of 75% to 100%.

While evaluators supported the use of wearable video recordings for post-examination review, they also identified practical limitations, including audio quality, occasional obstruction of the field of view, device slippage, heat generation, and the difficulty of handling evaluation forms while wearing the camera.

According to Miwa Sekine, combining a neck-mounted wearable camera with fixed cameras could improve documentation of detailed procedural steps and support post-examination review, especially in settings with limited evaluator resources.

Although further validation across multiple institutions and clinical scenarios is needed, the findings indicate that wearable recording technology could become a valuable complement to conventional OSCE assessment methods, helping improve the evaluation and documentation of procedural skills in medical education.