Evaluation of Educational Goals Achievement in Fundamental Nursing Clinical Skills: Application OSCE among Senior Nursing Students in ICU

Clinical education is an essential component and the heart of nursing education. Nursing is a practice-based discipline and the evaluation of educational goal achievement of nursing competency is essential. The objective of this study was to identify the achievement of clinical educational goals in fundamental skills among senior nursing students in ICU. This descriptive-analytical research was conducted on 56 senior nursing students. Subjects of this study were purposefully selected, and were directly observed in OSCE stations. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS-19 software. In each skill, the student's skills were categorised into five levels from unacceptable to excellent. Subjects of this study demonstrated excellent competency in insertion of IV catheter; however, they showed neither good nor excellent competence in some fundamental procedures such as dressing, insertion of urinary catheter and feeding tube. The only variable with significant relationship to skill was students’ opportunities to repeat a procedure during clinical education (P= 0.01). The finding of this study revealed that senior nursing students had significant deficits in their clinical skills. Given the importance of fostering student's fundamental skills, offering additional learning opportunities for students to practice basic clinical skills is recommended.