A child health nursing objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)

The UK has been experiencing an increasing focus on the assessment of clinical competence in nurse education. In response, an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was introduced into the assessment strategy of a core course within a Diploma in Nursing Studies for Child Branch students at an English University. This paper focuses on the use of professional role players to simulate user involvement in the assessment of competence. It also describes the development of objective checklists for each scenario within the OSCE, which contributed to the overall reliability of the marking process, as well as being a step-by-step guide to administering an OSCE.