Applying borderline methods for setting standards in Objective Structured Clinical Examination: the first case in undergraduate medical program in Vietnam

<b>Abstract</b><b>Introduction:</b> Many medical schools in Vietnam have frequently used the arbitrary 50% score of checklist as passing scores in objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). As part of the competency-based education, we apply the borderline methods in this study to determine OSCE passing scores and to demonstrate whether cut-off scores of borderline methods significantly differ from the arbitrary 50% score.<b>Methods: </b>This descriptive study applied the Borderline Group Method (BGM) and Borderline Regression Method (BRM) to determine OSCE passing scores. Our OSCE exam consists of five stations and was administered to 406 second-year medical students in 2023. At each station, an examiner rated a checklist score and a global score. We use pair t-tests for the comparison of passing scores between scores of 50%, borderline group mean, borderline group median, and BRM scores.<b>Results:</b> The passing scores calculated according to the mean of BGM and BRM at 5 stations were 68-86.5 and 69.3-86.3, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in passing scores between the 50% score and the mean/median of BGM as well as BRM (p=0.000) by pair t-test. There was no significant difference in passing scores between the mean or median of BGM and BRM (p=0.307 and p = 0.921).<b>Conclusion: </b>The passing scores determined by borderline methods were significantly higher than the arbitrary 50% score of checklist. Borderline methods can be used as appropriate standard-setting methods for OSCE in second-year medical students and should be considered for implementation in OSCE examinations for subsequent-year medical students at our university.