Misplaced confidence in a profession’s ability to safeguard the public?

A major requirement of a profession is to safeguard the public in providing a valid and reliable means of admitting to practice only those who will meet minimum requirements. Nursing uses two different forms of assessment (clinical and academic assessments) in attempting to discriminate between those who are likely to be safe and competent to practice and those who are not. The paper reviews the literature on systems of assessment with a specific focus on Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). The conclusion drawn is that the methods described are inadequate in predicting/assessing the clinical performance of nurses. An implication for the nursing profession is the possible loss of confidence in its ability to safeguard the public.