Nursing students' perspectives toward objective structured clinical examination (Osce) As a clinical examination method in mental health nursing

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a form of assessment in, which the student demonstrates clinical skills, and underpinning knowledge, usually in simulated conditions. The OSCE is becoming more prevalent within healthcare education programmes, because it is regarded as a useful method for assessing, skills, and underpinning knowledge required for practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the perspectives toward Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) as a Clinical Examination Method in Mental Health Nursing.

A cross sectional, descriptive study was conducted at Mohamed Sathak AJ College of Nursing, Chennai, with the sample size of B.Sc (N) III year students 48. Samples were selected through purposive sampling technique. Data was collected by self-administered method by using a demographic variables proforma of students and Pierre et al's (2004) OSCE evaluation questionnaire.

Majority 46(96%) of the students belong to upto 21 yrs of age, majority 31(65%) were female, majority of them 45(97%) completed two number of clinical postings, majority of them 17(35%) experienced excellent experience with current OSCE and majority of them 44(92%) prefer OSCE over clinical written. Various domains of perspectives towards OSCE also assessed. Perspectives towards OSCE in other domains were, Evaluation of Perception of OSCE Attributes related 30.9/36, Evaluation of the Quality of OSCE Performance related 20.95/24, Evaluation of the Validity and reliability were 12.68/15, Evaluation of the Perception regarding OSCE Organization related 12.98/15 and overall perspectives toward OSCE were 77.93/90. Findings indicate that highest perspectives were experienced in Evaluation towards Quality of OSCE performance. The perspectives toward OSCE were associated with sex of the nursing students, current experience with OSCE and preference towards OSCE over clinical written.

The above findings reveal that OSCE can be an effective and widely used method of clinical assessment in Mental Health Nursing.