Kampo diagnostic ability is specific in post‐clinical clerkship objective structured clinical examination: An observational study

Abstract Background The Japanese medical educational model core curriculum requires an understanding of the characteristics of Kampo medicine. However, there are few reports on the methods of evaluating the skill levels of Kampo medicine practitioners. Objective This study investigated the utility of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for evaluating the skills of Kampo medicine practitioners, exploring its relationship with other medical skills. Methods The 2022 post‐clinical clerkship OSCE assessed the accuracy of Kampo‐related tasks, specifically abdominal examinations. In addition, correlation coefficients and factor analysis were used to analyze the relationship of Kampo tasks with other tasks (three clinical‐reasoning tasks, electrocardiogram attachment task, joint examination task). Results Medical students showed significant variation in their ability to accurately assess different abdominal regions. The epigastric region had the highest accuracy (92.0%), while the para‐umbilical region had the lowest (45.1%). Correlation analysis between Kampo tasks and other clinical tasks (clinical reasoning, electrocardiogram attachment, joint examination) yielded coefficients ranging from 0.10 to 0.19, suggesting a low relationship. Factor analysis confirmed the independence of Kampo skills from other assessed medical skills across four distinct factors. Conclusions Since Kampo diagnostic skills are highly unique, it is possible that Western medicine OSCE tasks alone may not sufficiently assess competency in Kampo medicine. Therefore, it is necessary to consider incorporating Kampo tasks into the OSCE.