Background Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a method of clinical evaluation which is a competency-based, systematic and objective method for the evaluation of students. The present study was carried out to compare the nursing students’ satisfaction between OSCE and Traditional Practical Examination (TPE) in psychiatric nursing at, Chennai, South India. Methods The study was conducted using the randomized cross-over research design with two groups in a selected Nursing College, Chennai among 84 III-year B.Sc. Nursing students (42 students in each group), were selected using the consecutive sampling technique. The participants were randomly assigned to Group I and Group II based on their second-year university examination scores, using the odd-even method. Data was collected using the baseline characteristics of the students and rating scale on satisfaction of evaluation methods (OSCE and TPE). The data were entered into Excel and analyzed using SPSS for Windows (20.0, IBM Corp) with appropriate statistical tests. Results Overall students’ satisfaction scores were higher in OSCE (98.26 ± 6.44) while comparing to TPE (89.82 ± 7.27, p < .001). Students overwhelmingly perceived positively (strongly agreed) toward OSCE on most of the items on quality of assessment, reliability and validity. Conclusion The study found that students reported high levels of satisfaction with the OSCE, indicating its effectiveness as an evaluation tool. This suggests that the OSCE contributes positively to students’ learning experience and engagement in psychiatric nursing education.
Read full abstract