‘I found the OSCE very stressful’: Student midwivesʹ attitudes towards an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)

SummaryBackground jective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has become widely accepted as a strategy for assessing clinical competence in nursing and midwifery education and training. There is a dearth of information, however, on the OSCE procedure from the perspective of midwifery students. In particular, there is an absence of an objective quantification of midwifery studentsʹ attitudes towards the OSCE. ives jective of this study is to report the conduct and findings of a survey of midwifery studentsʹ attitudes towards a Lactation and Infant Feeding OSCE and to consider these attitudes in the context of the international literature and the empirical evidence base. s riptive survey design using an 18-item Likert (1 to 5 point) scale was used to capture the relevant data. Potential participants were 3rd year midwifery students who had undertaken a Lactation and Infant Feeding OSCE (n = 35) in one School of Nursing & Midwifery in the Republic of Ireland. Survey responses were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 18. s -three students completed the survey providing a 94% response rate. Midwifery studentsʹ attitudes towards individual aspects of the OSCE varied. Overall, midwifery students were neutral/unsure of the OSCE as a strategy for assessing clinical competence (mean 3.3). Most agreed that the examiner made them feel at ease (mean 3.94). Contrastingly this does not appear to appease student nerves and stress as the majority agreed that the OSCE evokes nervousness (mean 4.27) and stress (mean 4.30). Midwifery students, overall, disagreed that the OSCE reflected real life clinical situations (mean 2.48). Midwifery students were neutral/unsure that the OSCE provided an opportunity to show their practical skills (mean 3.36). sion ndings of this study identified that midwifery students were neutral/unsure of the OSCE as a strategy for assessing clinical competence. This has relevance for OSCE development at the authorsʹ institution. The results suggest the need to explore further why students responded in this way. This will assist to develop this OSCE further to ensure that it becomes a positive assessment process for midwifery students and for student learning as they progress through their midwifery education and training.