Nursing Students’ Perception with the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE): A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study in Private Colleges of Peshawar, Pakistan

Nursing Students’ Perception with the Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Abstract

Abstract

Background: As an alternative to the existing methods of assessing clinical performance, objective structural clinical examination is a method of assessing clinical competence that involves testing the components of competence in a planned or structured manner. In a clinical context, more structured health care providers can be evaluated using the OSCE, a flexible, multifunctional assessment instrument.

Methods: A Quantitative Descriptive Cross-sectional study was conducted using non-probability convenient sampling was used. The sample size is calculated to be 243 samples through Rao software. Data was collected using adopted modified questionnaire from Student Evaluation of Objective structure clinical examination Questionnaire having calculated reliability of Cronbach’s alpha of (0.87). Data was analyzed through Software SPSS version 25 for statistical analysis.

Results: Total males were 67.1% and females 32.9% respectively. The total mean perception score revealed a moderate level of OSCE perception about (60.5%) while 19.8% showed low and 19.8% high perception levels. The perception ratings of female students were substantially higher than those of male students (p < 0.001). Additionally, compared to first-year students, fourth-year students had considerably more favorable opinions (p < 0.001). Strong internal consistency was demonstrated by the questionnaire (Cronbach's α = 0.87).

 Conclusion: According to the results, nursing students view the Objective structure clinical examination as a somewhat useful evaluation tool. The OSCE experience and its educational value may be further improved by focused enhancements to examiner training, instruction clarity, and student orientation.