Effectiveness of Statewide Training on Implementation of Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in the Nursing Colleges of Tamilnadu

Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a powerful method of evaluating the clinical competencies of the nursing students. To build the capacity of nursing faculty of af'Agrave;liated colleges under the TN Dr MGR Medical University in OSCE and implement OSCE as part of University practical examination for nursing students' workshops were conducted by The TN Dr MGR Medical University, Chennai. The study was conducted in 2 phases using pre-experimental one group pre-test and post-test research design. Phase 1 included 78 post graduate faculty members from 13 selected nursing colleges representing 6 specialities in nursing from various zones of Tamil Nadu, who were trained in OSCE. The baseline data of faculty, existing practice of OSCE in the selected nursing colleges and the knowledge of faculty in OSCE before and after the capacity building programme were assessed using a Structured Questionnaire. In phase 2 the trained faculty of the 13 colleges conducted similar workshops in selected zones of Tamil Nadu by including the faculty members (N =1002) from the nursing colleges. Data collection was done in a similar manner in all the zones. Study 'Agrave;ndings revealed that 38.4 percent of the colleges were already practicing OSCE. In Phase 1 there was a signi'Agrave;cant improvement in the OSCE knowledge scores of the faculty in post-test (M= 17.6, SD = 2.35) in comparison with the mean pre-test (M=13.75, SD =3.04), out of 20, the total score (p 'lt; 0.001). In phase 2 the faculty from Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Tirunelveli, and Madurai reported higher mean difference scores between pre- and post-test. OSCE can be effectively used as part of formative and summative evaluation in Nursing. Nursing faculty members need be periodically trained in OSCE to implement it uniformly and effectively.