Development and psychometric testing of the 10-item satisfaction with Nursing Skill Examination: Objective Structured Clinical Assessment scale.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) or Assessment (OSCA) has traditionally been used in disciplines such as medicine and nursing, to assess students' competence to perform clinical skills safely in a simulated hospital environment. Despite its accepted use, a validated and reliable tool has yet to be developed and tested to assess students' perception of and satisfaction with this mode of assessment. This study developed and tested the psychometric properties of a brief Objective Structured Clinical Examination tool for assessing student perception that could have transferability across health education settings. The study used a cross-sectional survey design. Final year students (n = 727) enrolled in an undergraduate nursing program in Western Sydney completed the 10-item Satisfaction with Nursing Skill Examination: Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (SINE-OSCA) Scale in 2017. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered a one-component structure with component loading that ranged from 0.45 to 0.86. Cronbach's alpha of the SINE-OSCA was 0.91. Socio-demographic group comparisons revealed that respondents who were: i) male (p = 0.003); ii) non-native-born (p < 0.001); iii) non-English-speaking (p < 0.001); and iv) International (p = 0.001), reported higher satisfaction with clinical assessments, as measured by the SINE-OSCA scale. The SINE-OSCA scale demonstrates validity and reliability in identifying students who may have difficulty with this mode of clinical skill assessment.

Factors contributing to undergraduate nursing students' satisfaction with a video assessment of clinical skills.

BACKGROUND: Clinical skill assessment via Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) has many challenges for undergraduate nursing students. These include high levels of anxiety that can compromise performance during the assessment, inconsistency with assessor reliability and is inconsistent with clinical skills performance in the real world. The implementation of a Video Assessment of Clinical Skills (VACS) that integrates formative feedback may be a way to address the challenges posed by OSCA assessment. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the acceptability, utility, and nursing student satisfaction with a formative feedback strategy - the Video Assessment of a Clinical Skill (VACS). DESIGN: A cross sectional survey. SETTINGS: Undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing degree students from a large Australian University. PARTICIPANTS: Third year undergraduate nursing students (final year) enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing Program. METHODS: Participants were recruited via purposive sampling. A pre-survey (prior to VACs assessment) and post-survey (after VACS assessment) were completed. This paper reports on the open-ended responses in the post-survey that explored students' insights and perceptions into formative feedback and its impact on their learning for the VACS assessment. RESULTS: A total of 731 open-ended responses were analysed with findings being organised into 3 major themes; (i) Flexibility and reflexivity, (ii) Editing and repeated attempts, and (iii) Working together. CONCLUSIONS: Video Assessment of a Clinical Skill has demonstrated good utility, acceptability, and satisfaction among undergraduate nursing students.

The influence of mathematics self-efficacy on numeracy performance in first-year nursing students: A quasi-experimental study.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To examine the factors that influence nursing students' mathematics self-efficacy, the effect of numeracy instruction on self-efficacy, and the association between self-efficacy and numeracy test performance. BACKGROUND: Medication administration errors, including administering incorrect dosages or infusion rates, can result in serious harm to patients. Hence, it is essential that nursing students are adequately prepared with the necessary numeracy skills during their nursing program. DESIGN: This quasi-experimental cohort study used a pre- and post-test survey design. The study complied with the STROBE checklist for cohort research. METHODS: In total, n = 715 undergraduate first year nursing students participated in the study from June to October 2017 at a single multi-campus university in the Western Sydney region of Australia. Data were collected at three time-points: (a) baseline, including assessing pre-instruction mathematics self-efficacy (NSE-Math scale); (b) 6-week follow-up; including assessing post-instruction mathematics self-efficacy; and (c) numeracy test performance was collected at 7-week follow-up. FINDINGS: At baseline, those with high NSE-Math scale scores were more likely to be male and have at least high school advanced mathematics level education. Following structured numeracy instruction, NSE-Math scale scores increased significantly, and those who obtained a satisfactory grade in their numeracy assessment were more likely to have high NSE-Math scale scores and high academic performance in the previous semester. CONCLUSION: The study shows that structured numeracy instruction improved mathematics self-efficacy, which in turn influenced numeracy test performance. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Using a structured medication numeracy pedagogical approach, to teach skills in nursing undergraduate programs, provides students with the foundations to improve mathematics self-efficacy and to be successful and safe with medication numeracy calculations and administration in clinical practice.