[Validity and reliability of a clinical performance examination using standardized patients]

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Skills Assessment

Background:

• Clinical performance examinations (CPX) are essential for assessing nursing students' practical skills.
• Preclinical nursing students require validated assessment tools tailored to their educational level.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity and reliability of a modified clinical performance examination (CPX) for preclinical nursing students.
• To determine the suitability of a modified CPX within the Korean nursing education context.

Main Methods:

• A modified CPX was administered to 70 preclinical nursing students at C University.
• The examination included six stations covering patient assessment, patient education, and postoperative care.
• Scoring agreement was assessed between trained faculty and simulated patients (SPs).

Main Results:

• A moderate agreement (r=.647) was found between faculty and SP scoring.
• Low correlations were observed between CPX scores and previous academic performance (r=.276) or a pulmonary system test (r=.048).
• Significant differences in CPX scores were noted across the different stations.

Conclusions:

• The modified CPX is appropriate for preclinical nursing students in Korean nursing schools.
• Implementing additional scoring systems is recommended to standardize difficulty across stations.
• Further validation may be needed to enhance the correlation with traditional academic measures.