Milena Pišlar

By Zvonka Fekonja, Jasmina Nerat, Vida Gönc, Milena Pišlar, Margaret Denny and Klavdija Čuček Trifkovič

Evaluation of clinical skills is a demanding and complex process and is dependent on many complex factors, such as teaching and learning approaches, simulated learning, and psychometrically validated assessment tools. Therefore, it is imperative that adequate strategies and methods are employed to evaluate the success of a nursing care activity. One such strategy in the field of nursing care is the application of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) of a nursing activity. The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of evaluating nursing activities in a simulated clinical environment with OSCE to determine synchronicity of the teacher and student assessment. A cross-sectional study was carried out, in which we compared the evaluation of nursing activity by the teacher and the 51 students. Summative content analysis was used to analyze open-ended questions about possible improvement of performed nursing activity. The data showed a large discrepancy (81.9%) in evaluating nursing activity between the teacher and the student. The synchronicity between the teacher and student assessment modality occurred only in 18%. Students were mostly less successful in their assessment of competence with knowledge about carrying out interventions (36.5%), preparing for interventions (24.3%), and infection control (14.4%). Clinical skills acquisition remains an essential element of a student nurse’s development, as competence in nursing skills is essential to patient safety. Simulation is viewed as an increasingly popular approach to the teaching and assessing of clinical skills. The process of evaluating nursing activity demands the usage of objective instruments that require objectivity, fairness, impartiality, and comprehension. The use of OSCE is one such method of promoting reliable and valid assessments in nursing skills.

Part of the book: Teaching and Learning in Nursing