The SimCapture Cloud Exam System is designed to streamline and manage Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs), where multiple learners participate in simulated encounters simultaneously, often involving a Standardized Patient (SP). The system includes four main interfaces to support various roles during the exam and offers customizable exam flows to ensure a seamless experience.

Exam system components

The exam system is comprised of four interfaces:

Student Interface:

• Location: A computer outside the exam room.
• Purpose: Allows learners to log in, start/stop recordings (if enabled), and complete evaluations.
• Access: Via a tray application installed on the computer.

Patient Interface:

• Location: A computer inside the exam room.
• Purpose: Displays a timer and patient evaluations.
• Access: Via a tray application installed on the workstation.

Control Interface:

• Location: Accessible from anywhere.
• Purpose: Allows administrators or proctors to configure rooms, start/stop exams, and view the status of rooms.
• Access: Through the SimCapture Cloud website (via Global Navigation > Control).

Monitor Interface:

• Location: Anywhere with supported live streaming, typically within the institution or simulation center.
• Purpose: Enables designated monitors to observe exam sessions and complete evaluations if required.
• Access: From the Control Interface, monitors can access live streams by selecting the video icon.

Exam states & flows

Exam flows in SimCapture Cloud are customizable, ensuring smooth exam progression through different steps. The system supports several pre-configured steps, which can be adjusted as needed:

Honor code

• Appears on: Student interface.
• Behavior: Students will be prompted to accept an honor code after logging into their interface. If a student does not accept the honor code, they are returned to the login screen. If they accept the honor code, they are moved to the next state in the exam flow.
• Configuration/Customization Options: Honor codes can be added and edited from the System Setup area of the software. 

Door notes

• Appears on: The Student interface.
• Behavior: Students will see a door note which typically contains information about the encounter or instructions before entering the room. Students cannot interact with the door note other than clicking "Continue" when they are done reading it to move to the next state.
• Configuration/Customization Options:

• If a door note is required in an exam flow, there will be an option within the scenario to create your door note or copy one from another Scenario. Door notes can have informational text and media but cannot contain questions as students cannot select answers.
• If an EMR is enabled for this exam, it will appear directly after the door note for the learner to interact with before their encounter.

Encounter

• Appears on: All interfaces are impacted by the Encounter state.
• Behavior: The encounter state occurs while the student is in the room with the SP and is the core of every exam flow. Encounters are recorded and create sessions within SimCapture for debriefing or for Monitors to view live.
• Configuration/Customization options:

• Starting sessions:
  • The encounters will either be "Student-Run" or "Proctor Run " depending on the exam flow." In the former, students both start and stop their recordings. In the latter, the Proctor must start recordings from the Control Interface, and students will stop their recording.
  • Proctor starts are usually done when all rooms need to start simultaneously. In contrast, student start is generally done when proctors are unavailable or less involved or for lower stakes exams with less rigid timetables.
• Evaluations: If an EMR is enabled for this exam, it will appear on the patient interface during the exam for the learner to interact with.
• Timers:
  • The encounter state is typically timed. The timer can be configured to be as short or long as the exam requires.
  • Timers can also be configured as "hard" or "soft." Hard timers will automatically advance to the next exam flow state once complete, whereas a soft timer will be allowed to hit and remain at "0" without impacting the exam.

Post-encounter

• Appears on: The Student and/or Patient workstation.
• Behavior: The Post-Encounter state occurs after the student has left the room and allows students and/or patients time to complete a post-encounter evaluation. Once all evaluations are submitted, the room will reset for the next encounter and return to the login screen.
• Configuration/Customization:

• Evaluations: Whether a student evaluation, learner evaluation/EMR, or both are required on the chosen exam flow. Required evaluations are built from the Scenario page either from scratch or from a copy of another Scenario's evaluation.
• Timers:
  • Typically, the post-encounter state is timed. The timer is configured to be as short or long as the exam requires.
  • Timers can be configured as "hard" or "soft." Hard timers will submit the evaluation and automatically advance to the next exam flow state once complete. In contrast, a soft timer is allowed to go to and remain at "0" without impacting the exam.

Note: If an exam contains post-encounter evaluations, they will be automatically created at the start of the exam and appear in the session debrief screen for completion by an Administrator or System Administrator who has Edit Course and View Results permissions if the evaluation wasn't able to be filled out during the exam.

Exam flow customization

Exam flows can be customized to include combinations of:

• Honor Code
• Door Notes
• EMR
• Student Evaluation
• Patient Evaluation
• Audio Announcements
• Follow-ups

Proctor and student control

Proctors can control the session start and stop from the Control Interface, while in some cases, students may be given control to start or stop their own recordings. Proctor-driven and student-driven flows can be toggled based on the exam setup.

Proctor-driven - student toggle off

Student-driven - student toggle on

Audio announcements and follow-ups

Audio Announcements are added to Scenarios and notify students and SPs when 5, 2, and 1 minute(s) remains prior to the end of an encounter/post-encounter. 

A Follow-up is a second recording that takes place during the same exam. The use case is often the learner going back into the room after their post-encounter to either simulate giving results to the patient from "tests" that were run, or sometimes to receive recorded feedback from faculty members or the SP themselves. This exam state is often followed by an additional Post Follow-up evaluation.

The SimCapture Cloud Exam System provides a comprehensive and flexible framework for conducting OSCEs, with multiple interfaces and customizable exam flows to meet diverse educational needs. For any questions or additional configurations, consult the Help Center documentation or support resources.