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Updated: Sep 25, 2025

Using Learning Outcome Measures to assess Doctoral Nursing Education
Published on: June 21, 2010
[Implementing the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in postgraduate education in nursing
Christine Dunger1, Martin W Schnell1
1Lehrstuhl für Sozialphilosophie und Ethik im Gesundheitswesen, Fakultät für Medizin, Private Universität Witten/Herdecke gGmbH, Alfred-Herrhausen-Straße 50, 58448 Witten, Deutschland.
Background:
Teaching ethical competencies is an essential component of professional and postgraduate curricula. Developing practical-ethical problem-solving competencies as well as appraising program-specific studies and related research ethics are topics typically addressed. However, assessment of these ethical competencies poses a challenge. Written or oral assessment formats addressing relevant learning objectives is mainly limited to knowledge testing alone, often not capturing relevant skills or attitudes pertinent to those competencies.
Aim:
During the reaccreditation of the masters of science (MSc) program in Nursing Science at Witten/Herdecke University, this challenge was addressed by implementation of an innovative examination format for postgraduate education.
Procedure:
For the module "Ethics in nursing practice and research" a format based on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) format was developed. This assessment method incorporates evaluation of acquired skills and attitudes of nursing students.
Conclusion:
The article demonstrates development and adaption of the OSCE format for this purpose.
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