With this last newsletter we would like to inform you about the results of the Pepas project. The project will offi-cially end on September 30th 2010, but the products will remain available on www.pepas.net. And we hope that more and more veterinary nurse programmes will choose to make use of our task bank. Other (clinical) educational pro-	grammes may wish to adopt our practi-cal assessment system – we are more than happy to help anyone.

Pepas (the creation of a Pan European Practical Assess-ment System) has developed a task bank containing 111 Osce’s (objective structured clinical exams), both in stu-dent and examiner versions. Osce’s are timed practical assessments in which stu-dents move from one station to another. Each station re-quires the students to demon-strate a combination of skills. Each station can be a differ-ent length (most of them 6 minutes). Advantages of this system are that all students sit the same test, examiners are standardized and feedback	can be provided to students. Osce’s are a reliable, valid and defensible method of examining practical skills. It fulfills the 3rd layer of the Miller’s pyramid: Studies show that eight sta-tions is the mini-mum amount to use for an exam. The reliability increases when 12 – 15 stations are used, but more than 15 is not useful.	Having each station exam-ined by one examiner re-duces examiner bias.

The Pepas results

1. An online task bank with 111 Osce’s, divided over 13 European Competences for the Veterinary Nurse (the European competences are published on www.acovene.com). Each task is available in a student- and an examiner version (password pro-tected). Examiner versions contain equipment lists, references and examiner instructions.
2. A Pepas examiner training. Each programme who wants to use the Pepas sys-tem needs trained examiners. The training is available on demand from Vetnnet from October 1st 2010 onwards. (www.vetnnet.com)
3. A pool of European Pepas examiners, published on www.pepas.net The examiners can be contacted as external examiners by any programme.
4. A Vetnnet-Pepas policy for users of the Pepas task bank. Each programme that wants to use the Pepas system must sign an agreement, which bounds them to this policy. The policy is published on www.pepas.net

Conclusions of the pilot exams

From the pilots, the following conclusions were drawn:

• Using 8 tasks per exam is the minimal amount to ensure a good reliability and validity.
• Using 12 tasks would increase the reliability and validity.
• Examiners need to be trained and standardized on a yearly basis.
• However, the use of a few untrained examiners does not create major problems, as long as they are professionals in the field of the assigned task. 
• Points that need further development: the costs aspect of certain tasks, the use of live ani- mals and the availability of examiners.

Usefulness of the Pepas exam

Based on feedback from the pilots, we conclude that the Pepas exam is useful in two ways:

   1. It helps with the training of students

         a.They develop a different study attitude (training for practical tasks)

         b.It shows deficits in the curriculum (tasks the need, but weren’t trained)

   2. It is a good assessment tool

The Pepas task bank and the examination system is a massive benefit to the veterinary profession.

Within the project, a pilot was run in 7 countries during the period March – June 2010.
In total over 250 students participated in these pilots. Half of these pilots was run as a formative exam, the other half as a sum-mative exam.

During the different pilots, task from each European Competence were used:

After the project ends, the task bank will be transferred into the ownership of Vetnnet. Each Vetnnet member will be able to get a password for the students versions. And after signing the agreement, also for the examiner versions.

A special Vetnnet-Pepas committee will take care of the quality assurance of the task bank and organize yearly CPD sessions.

The Vetnnet membership for 2010 was 450 Euros per year. An extra fee for using the Pepas system will be asked possibly in 2011.The extra fee is depending on the amount of programmes wanting to use the system, as the money is used for the Vetnnet-Pepas committee for the quality assurance and website costs.

Estimation of extra costs: - If 10 schools participate 375 Euros per school - If 20 schools participate 187,50 Euros per school - If 30 schools participate 125 Euros per school

Imagine having access to 111 quality assured Osce’s for only 125 Euros…

Please join this unique project. It is an opportunity to examine veterinary nurse students to the same standard across Europe, and the collect data which may result in meaningful research in OSCE examinations. The Pepas task bank and the examination system is acknowledged as being a mas-sive benefit to the veterinary profession.

You will get access to a unique task bank, containing 111 practical tasks for veteri-nary nurses. The task bank will be managed and quality assured. When using the Pepas system for examining practical skills, it will become easier to get an Acovene accreditation. The project has made contact with several European OSCE experts. When you join the system, you will be able to get some valuable advice on setting things up. You will be allowed to use the Pepas logo on your diploma’s and/or certificates. As Pepas has been widely communicated throughout Europe, this will have added value for your students. Access to the Pepas examiner bank.

Pepas will present it’s results at the Vetnnet conference 2010 at the beginning of October. Please come and join us there and talk to the project partners about their experiences dur-ing this fun event.
The Vetnnet conference is held in Barneveld, the Netherlands, from September 30th – October 2nd 2010. The progamme and registration information is available on www.vetnnetconference2010.nl

Programmes wishing to use the Pepas system, must follow the Pepas policy. This is to ensure the ongoing quality of the system and the task bank. This policy is published on www.pepas.net and involves guidelines about the training of examiners, the or-ganization of exams and confidentiality issues.