Attitude of Undergraduate Midwifery Students about Final Comprehensive Exam in Mashhad Nursing and Midwifery School

Introduction: Final comprehensive exam is the most important examination for midwifery students to evaluate their professional ability. Since this is the main concern of the students in their educational period, this study was designed to investigate the attitude of undergraduate midwifery students about this exam in Mashhad Nursing and Midwifery school in 2008. Methods: In this descriptive study, 33 midwifery students who had passed their final exam in 2007 were selected by cross sectional sampling method. The data were collected by researcher made questionnaire, and were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation-test and ANOVA by SPSS software. Results: Based on the results, students’ attitude about final-exam was desirable (80.15%±12.10%). Obedience of ethical and professional principles was in the highest level (84.66%±18.68%) but adequate time for patients’ management was in the lowest level (71.02%±10.51). Students scored final exam in maternity unit, in gynecology clinic, prenatal care clinic and maternal care so that mean and standard deviations were 15.80±51.10, 81.38±11.78, 80.82±13.91, 74.54±16.92 out of 100 respectively. There was a significant relationship between students’ information about evaluation forms of final-exam and their attitude to that (p=0.001). Conclusion: Midwifery students’ attitude to final exam was in appropriate level. It is essential to promote exam condition and students preparation through making them more familiar with evaluation forms in addition to continuation of the present programs.