Dissection is an important psychomotor skill which needs to be mastered by first year MBBS students to acquire surgical skills and perform better surgeries in future. Presently dissection skills of first year MBBS students are not assessed leaving the educational spiral incomplete. Objective Structured Assessment of Dissection Skills (OSADS) is a modified and innovative form of Objective Structured Practical Examination (OSPE). The aim of the present study was to develop an objective tool called OSADS to assess dissection skills of first year MBBS students and to analyze the advantages of incorporating OSADS as a part of practical examinations. Thirty twostudents offirst year MBBS batch of VMKV Medical College, Salem, Tamil Nadu were selected randomly. Their basic dissection skills were assessed bya pre- test using checklist. Training was given for two weeks. Post- test was conducted and feedbacks were collected. Paired 't'test analysis showed that average post-test scores obtained by students at each step were significantly higher than pre-test scores. Feedbacks from students overwhelmingly supported OSADS. The present study concludes that OSADS is an effective instrument for assessment of dissection skills and it is recommended that OSADS be included as a tool for formative assessment of dissectionskillsoffirstyearMBBSstudents.
