OBJECTIVELY ASSESSING NURSING PRACTICES - A CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT

In preparation for the changing needs of undergraduate nursing student s undertaking a Project 2000 degree, it was necessary to rethink the n ursing skills programme. After studying the literature a nursing skill s laboratory was designed which provided both an institutional and a d omestic setting. A progressive programme was developed, to help the st udents learn nursing practices, which was based on the Objective Struc tured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE). A small pilot study was set up using second and third-year students from the traditional nursing studies d egree. A number of stations were set up comprising various nursing sce narios. The students who were being assessed rotated through these. Ot her students acted as patients, examiners and some volunteered to be n ovices being taught by the more senior students. A set of marking crit eria was drawn up for each station to enable each student to be assess ed objectively, One of the stations was filmed to provide the students with personal feedback. By the end of the session the students had ro tated through each of the stations and received the marked criteria as feedback. At the end of the session a focused group interview took pl ace with all the students and the two lecturers involved in setting up the project. Students were positive and felt the process had potentia l for future development as a means of integration and consolidation o f skills prior to clinical experience. The early introduction of filmi ng to the programme was thought to be of benefit by reducing stress le vels through regular use, Students felt that the role of teaching the 'novice' helped them focus on their knowledge and performance. This pr ocess is resource intensive in human and non-human terms but enables s mall groups of students to learn in a realistic but safe, non-threaten ing environment and encourages them to take responsibility for their o wn learning.