Evaluating Nurse Practitioner Students Through Objective Structured Clinical Examination.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Medical Simulation
• Clinical Competency Assessment

Background:

• Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) have been utilized in medical schools for over three decades to assess clinical skills objectively.
• The evaluation of nurse practitioner (NP) students' clinical skills, particularly in health history taking and physical examination, requires effective assessment tools.
• This study explores the feasibility of using OSCE as a method for evaluating NP student competency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the feasibility of employing OSCE with a checklist tool for evaluating NP students' competency.
• To assess NP students' ability to obtain a patient's health history and perform a complete physical examination using the OSCE format.
• To evaluate the inter-rater reliability among faculty in assessing student performance via OSCE.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive pilot study design was implemented.
• Four NP faculty members reviewed prerecorded OSCE videos of student-patient encounters.
• A checklist tool was used by faculty to score student competency in history taking and physical examination.

Main Results:

• Faculty demonstrated a strong degree of agreement in their competency grading.
• The findings suggest that OSCEs can be a viable method for evaluating NP students.
• The current checklist requires revision to align with national NP competencies for specific evaluation.

Conclusions:

• OSCEs hold potential as an effective tool for assessing NP student clinical competency.
• Refining the OSCE checklist to reflect national NP competencies is crucial for its specific application in NP education.
• Further research and checklist adaptation are recommended to optimize OSCEs for NP student evaluation.