Evaluation of Nursing Students Using Objective Structured Clinical Examination: A Strategy for Assessing Student's Competence

Evaluation of students before entering the clinical field can be a reliable criterion for assessing the quality of students’ clinical skills. This study was performed with the aim of evaluating nursing students using objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) method in order to assess students’ competence before entering the clinical environment.

In this cross-sectional study, the knowledge and practice of 39 nursing students were examined during 2 consecutive days before enter the clinical field in determined stations of the nursing skills laboratory of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, using relevant checklists. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and descriptive and analytic statistics such as independent t-test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Of the 39 participants, 22 (56.4%) were female, 17 (43.6%) were male. The mean age of participants was 21.85 ± 0.96. The highest score was related to writing of drug form, kardex, and nursing report (94.8%), and ECG procedure (74.7%), respectively. The least score belonged to tracheostomy suction (12.8%), and catheterization and subcutaneous injection procedures (25.6%), respectively.

According to the findings and considering the weaknesses of students, effective steps can be taken toward the improvement of their performance.