Table 3.

Proposed spiral approach of EBM OSCE stations of increasing complexity for different years of undergraduate medical education mapped against the core competencies

Year	EBM task	Mapping against the EBP core competencies (focusing on those rated by authors as ‘practiced with exercises’)	Possible EBM station	The spiral approach to assessment of EBM skills in UBMS
year 1	Asking Acquiring	Convert clinical questions into structured, answerable clinical questions using PICO Construct and carry out an appropriate search strategy	Students formulate an appropriate clinical question and search terms which they apply to a database search	Examine Evidence
Year 2	Appraising	Interpret commonly used measures of uncertainty, in particular, confidence intervals Interpret different types of measures and effect, including key graphical presentations Critically appraise and interpret a treatment study	Students explain epidemiological terms in an article to a patient.	Consider evidence
			Students review clinical guidelines and apply it to the diagnosis and management of a clinical condition.
Year 3	Appraising Applying in a simulated clinical setting	Interpret different types of measures and effect, including key graphical presentations Critically appraise and interpret a systematic review Critically appraise and interpret a treatment study	Students interpret and explain screening results to a patient using epidemiolocal terms within their explanations Students discuss a paper with a patient to discuss the management of the disease	Utilise evidence as a tool
Year 4	Applying	Engage patients in a decision-making process, using shared decision making, including explaining the evidence and integrating their preferences	Students explain epidemiological terms mentioned in publications to help guide shared decision making with the patient.	Integrate evidence
			Students use a patient decision aid to guide a shared decision-making discussion with a patient.