OSPE-Objective structured practical examinations in psychiatric nursing: Current practices, needs and challenges

Objective Structured Practical/Clinical Examination (OSPE/OSCE) is a new system of evaluation which is recognized as valuable assessment tool which promotes students’ learning. One day interactive workshop on the theme ‘Capacity building of Faculty in OSPE-Psychiatric Nursing’ was conducted at Apollo college of Nursing, Chennai. This program is conducted with aim of empowering the faculty to conduct OSPE/OSCE in Psychiatric Nursing. This study was conducted to describe current practices, challenges and alternative approaches in Psychiatric Nursing – practical Examination and need for introducing OSPE/OSPE. A cross sectional, descriptive study was conducted at Apollo College of Nursing, Chennai, among the faculty who attended the one day workshop on capacity building of Faculty in OSPE-Psychiatric Nursing. There were 109 participants from 22 colleges of nursing and hospitals from Chennai, Puduchery and other districts of Tamil Nadu participated in the workshop. This study was conducted among 22 senior faculties of the concerned participated Institutions using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected using self developed semi structured questionnaire through survey approach -self administration method and focus group interview. Collected data was entered in SPSS-16, and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Majority of the participants were faculties (56%) from Private Institutions (91%). All of them have accepted the need for conducting Practical Examination in Psychiatric Nursing (100%) and relying on Private hospital-Psychiatric set up (81.81%) for conducting Practical Examination in Psychiatric Nursing. Problems in conducting Practical Exam in Psychiatric Nursing include difficulty in getting permission for conducting Exam (73%), high exam fees (82%), and unable to conduct exam as per University schedule (82%). They suggested OSPE/OSCE as alternative for Traditional practical Examination (TPE), when there is difficulty in Conducting TPE (73%), followed by using simulated patients (41%). Currently only one Institution (4.55%) is conducting OSPE in all the subjects including Psychiatric Nursing as a part of formative evaluation and 91% of them are interested to conduct OSPE in future. When used correctly, the OSPE can be highly successful as an instrument to assess competence.