Comparison of the Effects of Modern Assessment Methods (DOPS and Mini-CEX) with traditional method on Nursing Students' Clinical Skills: A Randomized Trial

Introduction: Student assessment is of the most important responsibilities of a clinical teacher. Application of new methods of assessment is necessary due to significant improvement in clinical teaching methods. In the meantime, new assessment approaches that simultaneously enforce learning have been greeted more than other methods. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the new methods (Mini-CEX and DOPS) with traditional method of assessment on the clinical skills of nursing internships students in Army University of Medical Science. Methods: This study is a randomized trial which was carried out on nursing students of Army University of Medical Science. All eligible students and instructors willing to take part were randomly divided into two groups of experiment and control. After training the instructors and assessing the reliability of evaluators, three rounds of assessments were performed using DOPS and Mini-CEX for experiment group while control group was evaluated using the routine method. Evaluation of procedures (Vein puncturing, dressing up, report writing, and patient education) in each group was based on valid and reliable check-lists made by the researcher. Results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square and independent T tests). Results: There was no significant difference between groups regarding demographic variables such as age, gender, and average (p<0.05). The mean scores of final assessments in the experiment group(by Mini-CEX and DOPS methods) were significantly(p=0.000) higher than the control one(traditional method). In other Conclusion: It seems that applying Mini-CEX and DOPS methods resulted in improvement of clinical skills among students. Accordingly, it is recommended that nursing education centers apply these two methods to assess students’ clinical skills in conjunction with other methods, to help promote their learning.