Using OSCE as an Assessment Tool for Clinical Skills: Nursing Students' Feedback

Objective S t ru c t u re d Clinical Examination (OSCE) has been widely used in the assessment of s t u dents ' clinical performance. Research revealed that it is an effective evaluation tool for nurs ing s tudents ' clinical skills . The OSCE was firs t introduced into Faculty of Nurs ing, Mansoura Univers ity by the Maternity and Gynecology Department which used it as an assessment tool for t h ird y e a r nurs ing s tudents ' clinical performance following their completion of Maternity and Gynecology Course during the 2007-2008 academic year. The success ful outcome of this application encouraged the Crit ical Care Nurs ing Department to use the OSCE in evaluating firs t year s tudents ' clinical skills following t heir completion of Firs t Aid Course. The main aim of this s tudy was to inves tigate nurs ing s tudents ' feedback about the OSCE a s an assessment tool for their clinical skills . This s tudy has a cross sectional descriptive des ign. The total number of undergraduate nurs ing s tudents who participated in the s tudy was 724 (310 of third year nurs ing s tu d ents and 414 of firs t year nurs ing s tudents). The ques tionnaire developed by Pierre et al., (2004) was adapted in this s tudy. The ques tionnaire assesses nurs ing s tudents ' evaluation of the OSCE attributes , the quality of OSCE performance, and OSCE scoring and objectivity. The results of this s tudy indicate that OSCE has been accepted by the majority of nurs ing s tudents a s a n e v a lu a tion tool for their clinical skills . Most s tudents viewed OSCE as a fair assessment tool which covered a wide range of knowle d g e , min imize d the chance of failing and highlighte d areas of weaknesses . Going through the OSCE was a useful practical experience for nurs ing s tudents . However, several s tudents felt that OSCE was very s tre s s fu l. The feedback received regarding this evaluation tool provides evidence that OSCE is an acceptable, useful assessment tool for nurs ing s tudents ' clinical skills . Such feedback is cons idere d v a luable for further development and enhancement of OSCE.