Evaluation of Nursing Students’ Perspectives toward Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Abstract

Nurses need to master the core nursing competencies to perform their professional duties effectively. The Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) have been integrated as an innovative method of evaluating clinical skills in the nursing curriculum over the years. The study that directed this article aimed to assess nursing students’ perception toward OSCEs. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. A convenient sample of 429 undergraduate nursing students was enrolled. In addition to demographic data, the OSCEs’ evaluation questionnaire was used to gather data. The questionnaire assessed nursing students’ evaluation of the OSCEs’ attributes, the quality of OSCEs’ performance, and OSCEs’ scoring and objectivity. Seven questions about the evaluation of the OSCEs’ organisation were added. About two-thirds of the students were female (69.2%) and belonged to the age category of younger than 24 years (59.9%). The OSCEs were rated the most preferred assessment method for clinical competencies and fit for all student levels. Nursing students showed positive perspectives toward OSCEs’ attributes, quality of performance, scoring and objectivity, and organisation. OSCEs have been used as an innovative method of evaluating clinical nursing skills. OSCEs are accepted well by nursing students. The study recommends that academic institutions have to design OCSEs well in terms of preparation, planning, equipping labs, organisation, implementation, follow-up, and monitoring, and they should consider faculty and students’ feedback to make it more effective and valuable.