An assessment of Acquisition of Skills and Competencies Earned by Students during Clinical Placement in some Hospitals in Fako Division, S.W.Region, Cameroon

Abstract

This study on the assessment of acquisition of skills and competencies obtained from clinical assessment of students by clinical mentors of hospitals in Fako Divisio, South West Region of Cameroon was carried because nurses in practices have sometimes demonstrated the lack of skills in clinical assessment of students’ competencies place under them. The problem was evident in all types of skills and competencies needed to be assessed. These three areas of skills are cognitive, psychomotor and attitudinal (affective). The objective of the study was to investigate the competencies mentors look for when assessing competencies in nursing students in placement settings. The population of the study was all clinical mentors charged with caring and follow up of students while at clinical sites. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire which had both close ended (quantitative data) and open ended (qualitative data) questions. The instrument was pretested among mentors in distant hospitals out of Fako Division. Hence, a cross sectional survey of all seven hospitals with students on clinical placement was carried out and data was collected for a period of one month (July to August). Results show that cognitive, psychomotor and attitudinal skills could be assessed but at different levels and in different hospitals. Psychomotor and attitudinal skills were difficult to assess than the cognitive skills. An example of a cognitive was found to be objectivity in the activities of the students seen from observation of the students over a period of time. The study has demonstrated that observation of students was the main method of assessment, and that assignments were seldom used as assessment methods of the students on clinical placement. It thus conclude that all three types of skills are assessed but with a lot of subjectivity. These results can be used by faculty to training bedside assessors of students on clinical placement for objectivity in the assessment.