This study aimed to establish a clinical evaluation system for orthodontics candidates via combining Tweed analysis with mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX) , and examine its effect in clinical assessment.

By combining the Mini-CEX method with Tweed analysis and supplementing the detailed scoring table, a new type of orthodontics teaching assessment method was established, which was called the modified Mini-CEX assessment. In September 2019, six in-trained dental resident doctors were randomly selected as candidates from the Department of Orthodontics, Shanghai Ninth People′s Hospital. They were enrolled in the improved Mini-CEX clinical assessment, and their performance were evaluated by five senior orthodontic doctors. The obtained data were statistically analyzed by SPSS 21.0 software using Kendall′s coefficient of concordance test.

The scores of five candidates exhibited a significant consistency among the examiners (W₁ = 0.742, P₁ = 0.001; W₂ = 0.666, P₂ = 0.003; W₃ = 0.720, P₃ = 0.001; W₄ = 0.628, P₄ = 0.004; W₅ = 0.555, P₅ = 0.011; W₆ = 0.330, P₆ = 0.1293) . All evaluation scores were significantly consistent in the following aspects: medical interview, physical examination, clinical judgment, health education, organizational effectiveness and overall performance (W₁ = 0.620, P₁ = 0.008; W₂ = 0.588, P₂ = 0.012; W₃ = 0.885, P₃<0.001; W₄ = 0.625, P₄ = 0.008; W₅ = 0.835, P₅ = 0.001; W₆ = 0.930, P₆<0.001) . The only aspect which failed in the consistency test was humanistic care (W = 0.147, P = 0.598) .

The improved Mini-CEX assessment was a convenient, comprehensive, fair and objective method which had good consistency among different examiners. Therefore, this method was expected to be applied to the clinical assessment of orthodontics.