Valerie Smith, Kathryn Muldoon, Linda Biesty School of Nursing & Midwifery Trinity College Dublin Student Midwives’ attitudes towards the Objective Structured Clinical Examination as a strategy for assessing clinical competence

Background The way in which students are assessed and the perspectives of students on assessment strategies is considered an important aspect of curriculum design Dearth of information on student midwives’ attitudes towards the OSCE as a form of assessing clinical competence

Background Lactation and Infant Feeding OSCE introduced in 2010 as part fulfilment of assessment of a Lactation and Infant Feeding Module. Need to formally evaluate the OSCE from the perspectives of students Two-part study evaluating students’ attitudes towards and experiences of participating in an OSCE

Aim To present the conduct and findings of Part 1 – student midwives’ attitudes towards the OSCE as a strategy for assessing clinical competence

Methods Design Survey design using a Likert Scale survey instrument 18-item scale Participants Student midwives’ undertaking the OSCE in their SF year Instrument Development Informed by the literature Content assessment by panel of experts Stability and internal consistency testing

Methods Ethical approval Faculty of Health Sciences, Trinity College Dublin Data Collection 1-time point distribution of instrument Data Analysis Description statistics including mean and standard deviations

Results Response rate 33/35 students = 94% All 18-items completed by all respondents resulting in no missing data

Results ItemStrongly Agree (5) Agree (4)Neutral/ Unsure (3) Disagree (2)Strongly Disagree (1) 1 1 (3%)7 (21%)15 (46%)9 (27%)1 (3%) 2 2 (6%)4 (12%)8 (24%)13 (39%)6 (18%) 3 05 (15%)16 (49%)10 (30%)1 (3%) 4 5 (15%)15 (46%)9 (27%)4 (12%)0 5 6 (18%)11 (33%)7 (21%) 2 (6%) 6 11 (33%)13 (39%)5 (15%)4 (12%) (46%)14 (42%)3 (9%)1 (3%) (46%)11 (33%)5 (15%)2 (6%)0 9 1 (3%)3 (9%)06 (18%)23 (70%)

Results ItemStrongly Agree (5) Agree (4)Neutral/ Unsure (3) Disagree (2)Strongly Disagree (1) 10 6 (18%) 9 (27%) 3 (9%) 11 2 (6%)5 (15%)6 (18%)16 (49%)4 (12%) 12 2 (6%) 7 (21%)13 (39%)9 (27%) (56%)9 (27%)4 (12%)1 (3%) (58%)7 (21%)5 (15%)2 (6%) (3%)17 (52%)10 (30%)5 (15%) (6%)10 (30%)7 (21%)10 (30%)4 (12%) 17 4 (12%)15 (45%)8 (24%)5 (15%)1 (3%) 18 1 (3%)14 (42%)11 (33%)4 (12%)3 (10%)

Results Total scale mean score = 3.3 (SD 1.0) ItemMeanSDItemMeanSD

Conclusion & Recommendations OSCE related nervousness, stress and anxiety consistently reported in the literature R1-mock OSCEs R2-workshops R3-Q and A sessions

Conclusion & Recommendations Previous studies identified OSCE’s as helpful for improving clinical skills and confidence Neutral/unsure in our study R1-evaluate results from Part-2 (experiences) R2-consider ways to improve the OSCE to meet this ideal

Conclusion & Recommendations Positive attitudes towards preparation, guidelines and feedback R1-continue and promote this further R2-timely feedback and logistics associated with this Assessor and midwife acting as ‘woman’

Conclusion Overall student midwives’ attitudes towards the OSCE as a strategy for assessing clinical competence were neutral/unsure Exploring individual item attitudes and merging with data from Part-2 to improve on this Comparing attitudes of the OSCE assessment strategy to alternative assessment strategies to inform further curriculum design

Thank you