Student Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Objective Structured Clinical Examination at Kenya Medical Training College, Kakamega Campus
Abstract
The nursing profession is characterized by the fact that a significant amount of time is spent on competency-related activities. The assessment of clinical competence is, therefore, an important issue in nursing education and the utilization of objective structured clinical evaluation for that purpose was considered to be very important in this study. The objective of this research was to find out the levels of knowledge and attitudes of second-year student nurses with regard to the objective structured clinical evaluation assessment approach. A cross-sectional research design was used. The instrument used was a questionnaire. This questionnaire focused on the level of knowledge and attitude of student nurses with regard to the objective structured clinical evaluation approach and with regard to aspects such as reality, execution, time allocation and student and assessor variables. Descriptive analysis was done, and data presented in the form of frequency tables, pie charts. Majority of the students 57.5 %understood that Objective Structured Clinical Examination provides students with the ability to integrate knowledge skills and attitude, 40%) of the forty respondents strongly agreed to have received adequate information before appearing in the exams while Twenty five percent (25%) strongly agreed that the assessments were stressful. In conclusion, students’ knowledge, attitude and experience indicate that Objective Structured Clinical Examination continues to be the most valuable and accepted method of assessment though a few students understand the important uses of objective structured clinical examination. Objective Structured Clinical Examination is an effective assessment tool and should be used in the preregistration nursing programme. The study recommends that the management process involved in the preparation of Objective Structured Clinical Examination should be enhanced. There is a need for the careful preparation and organization of Objective Structured Clinical Examination; this should include the aspect of examiners preparation, students’ preparation and technical preparation.
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