Summary
The use of Objective Structured Clinical Examination/Objective Structured Clinical
Assessment (OSCE/OSCA) has been well documented. How assessors currently view the
process, and if the OSCA tool still fulfils the assessment requirements, is unclear.
In this study, the beliefs and expectations of assessors towards the assessment tool
used in an undergraduate nursing degree to assess clinical skills was investigated.
A cross-sectional study used semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 16 lecturers
in nursing from a rural Australian university. This represents 65% of the total nurse
academic staff employed there. The key issues that the academic staff raised reflect
those from previous studies, such as the use of OSCA as formative assessment or a
quality check process before the clinical practice. The OSCAs were seen as a good
assessment tool, which gave students the opportunity to receive feedback on their
performance in relation to clinical skills. The drawbacks identified in relation to
the use of OSCAs were that the OSCA was seen as stressful to students. This drawback
was thought to be further compounded if there was a lack of congruence regarding essential
criteria between assessors. If not adequately addressed these drawbacks will erode
the potential the OSCA tool has to foster uniformity, which was one of the main reasons
for its implementation.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to CollegianAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Nursing competencies Assessment Project. Vol. 1. ANRAC, North Adelaide1990
- Critiques on the objective structured clinical examination.Annals of Academy of Medicine. 2005; 34: 478-482
- The OSCE approach in nursing education: Objective structured clinical examinations can be effective vehicles for nursing education and practice by promoting the mastery of clinical skills and decision-making in controlled and safe learning environments.The Canadian Nurse. 2004; 100: 18-25
- The objective structured clinical examination; its application in nursing education.The Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1993; 11: 33-39
- Using thematic analysis in psychology.Qualitative Research in Psychology. 2006; 3: 77-101
- Assessing comprehensive nursing performance: The objective structural clinical assessment (OSCA): Part 1—Development of the assessment strategy.Nurse Education Today. 1991; 11: 179-184
- Assessing comprehensive nursing performance: The Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) Part 2—Report of the evaluation project.Nurse Education Today. 1991; 11: 248-255
- Effect of fading knowledge of results on acquisition, retention and transfer of a simple motor task.Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1993; 77: 1187-1192
- Competency assessment in nursing.Cancer Australia, Sydney2008
- Clinical assessment in a college program.Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1988; 5: 5-9
- Triangulation for the assessment of clinical nursing skills: A review of theory, use and methodology.International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2010; 47: 386-391
- Oncology nursing students’ views of a modified OSCE.European Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2005; 9: 351-359
- Assessment of clinical practice in intensive care: A review of the literature.Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. 2005; 21: 268-275
- Assessment of clinical competence using objective structured examination.British Medical Journal. 1975; 1: 447-451
- Adult and continuing education: Theory and practice.Routledge, London1995
- OSCEs—Seven years on the bandwagon: The progress of an objective structured clinical evaluation programme.Nurse Education Today. 2005; 25: 442-454
- Student's perception of the use of portfolios in pre-registration nursing education: A questionnaire survey.International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2006; 43: 333-343
- The function of feedback in psychomotor skill learning.Western Journal of Nursing Research. 1988; 19: 425-434
- Supporting students’ learning and professional development through the process of continuous assessment and mentorship.Nurse Education Today. 2000; 20: 463-474
- Best practice guidelines for use of OSCEs: Maximising value for student learning.Nurse Education Today. 2011; 31: 145-151
- Objectively assessing nursing practices: A curricular development.Nurse Education Today. 1996; 16: 121-126
- Principles and practice of nursing education.Nelson Thornes, Cheltenham2000
- Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE): Review of literature and implications for nursing education.Nurse Education Today. 2007; 27: 481-490
- Nursing & midwifery research.3rd ed. Mosby Elsevier, Sydney2007
- Assessing advanced clinical practice skills.Primary Health Care. 2006; 16: 22-24
- Assessing Australian undergraduate clinical learning.Collegian. 2001; 8: 9-13
Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 10, 2012
Accepted:
March 28,
2012
Received in revised form:
March 9,
2012
Received:
August 12,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
