Designing and implementing an OMMID midwifery professional competence mixed test: A multimethod, multiphasic study

Abstract

The assessment of professional competence is essential to ensure the achievement of competence standards. The goal of this study is to design and implement a professional competence test model to make the test unified, comprehensive, and fair. This research was a multimethod, multiphasic study. The first qualitative phase of the nominal group technique was conducted to design the test model with specific guidelines. The second phase was a mixed-method parallel field trial conducted on 161 senior midwifery bachelor students in universities of Iran. The test was conducted following the traditional method in the control group and OMMID model in the intervention group. This model consists of three parts: the MCQs (multiple choice questions), OSCE (objective structured clinical examination), and clinically-oriented tests, which included Mini-CEX (mini-clinical evaluation exercise) and DOPS (direct observation of procedural skills). Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews, and the results were assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. The OMMID model and the associated guideline were designed. Qualitative data analysis resulted in six main themes, including organizing, structure, tension due to change, fairness, unification, and outcome. The OMMID model did not increase students' anxiety and stress and did not decrease their satisfaction. The merits of this model include having a centralized guideline, using multiple evaluation methods, comprehensive evaluation of necessary skills, promotion of fairness, and increased student satisfaction.