Assessing clinical skill competence of nursing students through Objective Structured Clinical Examination

Aim To investigate the possibility of assessing clinical skill competenceof nursing students by using the Objective StructuredClinical Examination (OSCE).Methods The search for empirical articles on the assessmentof clinical skill competence of nursing students was based onthe SCOPUS electronic database. Search strategy included theutilization of two or three key words based on the MeSH index(OSCE, nursing students and clinical competence). Theanalysis was restricted to papers in the English language duringthe last ten years. Bibliography of selected papers was used tosearch for additional empirical studies as well.Results A review of the literature showed that since 1975,when the first objective structured clinical examination was introduced,there has been a growing interest in the assessmentutilization of clinical skill competence of nursing students.This method of assessment included direct evaluation of clinicalskills in the classroom or hospital room. Application ofobjective structured examination required a good organization,prepared checklists, as well as a number of examiners, time andmoney. By analyzing the efficiency of this method some authorshave pointed out that the use of this method could lead toconsidering health care as a simple set of tasks to be performed,while others have emphasized that by a customized implementationof this method other clinical skill competence of nursingstudents can be also evaluated. Students’ opinion about thismethod of assessment is different.Conclusion The widespread use of OSCE for the assessmentof clinical skill competence also imposes a number of questionsfor those involved in its planning, implementation and assessment.