Testing of the 10-Item Satisfaction With Nursing Skill Examination: Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (SINE-OSCA) Scale

Monday, 18 November 2019

Lucie M. Ramjan, PhD1
Miranda Daly, MSN2
Leanne Hunt, PhD1
Peter Lewis, PhD1
Yenna Salamonson, PhD3
(1)School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia
(2)School of Nurisng and Midwifery, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia
(3)School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney Univeristy, Penrith, Australia

Introduction:The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) or Assessment (OSCA) has customarily been used in health disciplines, to assess students’ clinical skills competence and safety within a simulated environment (East, Peters, Halcomb, Raymond, & Salamonson, 2014; Johnston et al., 2017). While there are shortcomings to this type of assessment, including issues of inter-rater variability (Daly, Salamonson, Glew, & Everett, 2017; East et al., 2014) and the encouragement of rote learning of skills (Daly et al., 2017; Ku, 2009), the benefits of the OSCA for nursing include it being an efficient quality check process for academics prior to students attending clinical placements (Bouchoucha et al., 2013; Bujack et al., 1991). Despite the widespread use of the OSCA for clinical assessment, a valid or reliable tool to assess student perception has yet to be developed and tested (Johnston et al., 2017).

Purpose:The aim of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Nursing Skill Examination: Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (SINE-OSCA) scale that could be used across health professional educational settings.

Methods:The study used a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design and recruited final year nursing students enrolled in an undergraduate nursing program in Australia.

Data collection: A total of n=727 final year undergraduate nursing students completed the 10-item Satisfaction with Nursing Skill Examination: Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (SINE-OSCA) Scale in 2017. All data were analysed using the statistical software package, SPSS version 24.0 software.

Results:Of the 727 nursing students, 117 (16%) were male, and the mean age of the respondents was 29.3 years (SD: 8.0, Range: 20-60 years). Approximately two-thirds (65%) were born outside Australia, and more than half (57%) spoke a language other than English at home. Twenty-nine percent were International students. A one-component structure with component loading that ranged from 0.51-0.86 was uncovered using Exploratory Factor Analysis. Cronbach’s alpha of the SINE-OSCA was 0.91. Respondents who were: i) male (p=0.003); ii) non-native-born (p<0.001); iii) non-English-speaking (p<0.001); and iv) International (p=0.001), reported higher satisfaction with clinical assessments, as measured by the SINE-OSCA scale score. The SINE-OSCA scale demonstrates validity and reliability as an assessment tool to identify nursing students who may struggle with the OSCE/OSCA.

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