Use of Objective Structured Clinical Examination in a Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Course for Assessment of End-of-Program Outcomes

Faculty continue to acknowledge the challenges associated with evaluating students in the real life clinical arena (Meechan, Jones, & Valler-Jones, 2011; McWilliam & Botwinski, 2010).  Identification of alternative assessment measures must be utilized in order to provide a standardized format in which to evaluate and measure clinical competence and integrated knowledge for end of program outcomes.  Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), has been defined as an observed examination of clinical skills in a controlled simulated environment, with the utilization of structured checklists (Jones, Pegram & Fordham-Clark, 2010; Meechan et al., 201l; McWilliam & Botwinski, 2010; Paul, 2010).  Predefined tasks, time limits, and standardized patients are a requirement of OSCE, in order to regulate the assessment environment for each student (Mitchell, Henderson, Groves, Dalton, & Nulty, 2009; Oranye, Ahmad, Ahmad, & Bakar, 2012; Rentschler et al., 2007).  By ensuring these elements are present, external factors are eliminated, maintaining strict control and standardization in the testing environment.  A descriptive study was conducted regarding the development and evaluation of OSCE for second semester senior nursing students for assessment of end of program outcomes.  Two pilot groups were tested in three stations including knowledge application, psychomotor skills, and patient teaching.  The stations included standardized patients and mannequins as patients.  Examiners were not present in the stations during testing and observed via one-way glass and cameras.  Although the pass rate was lower than expected, student evaluations were unanimous for including OSCE in the undergraduate curriculum.  The OSCE was perceived by students as less subjective than current clinical evaluations and an opportunity to self-evaluate clinical skills as they began their last semester.