ABSTRACT

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination has been a part of learning and certification requirements for undergraduate nursing students in tertiary institutions for decades since its introduction in 1975 by Prof. Ronald Harden. The main purpose of the study was to assess the level of impact the Objective Structured Clinical Examination has on the learning process of an average nursing student in a tertiary institution, in Edo State, Nigeria. Participants included 130 nursing students conveniently selected from 400-500 levels in a tertiary institution in Edo State with the setting being that of the Nursing Department, University of Benin. A descriptive cross-sectional study was employed in this study. The research instrument used was a structured questionnaire which included 5 sections and data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results showed that the age of majority 76(58.5%) to be between 19-24 years, female 113(86.9%) and 400 level was the majority 96(73.8%). The level of influence of the examination in knowledge acquisition and clinical proficiency showed an overall mean score of 2.97 which was above the 2.5 index mean thereby indicating a positive attitude. This study showed that despite student factor fear and reluctance towards undergoing and requiring good results in the examination, they acknowledge its importance and influence in affecting their learning towards achieving efficient and suitable clinical proficiency. Implementing workshops to train nursing educators to enhance their knowledge and skills in conducting the exams would be an effective and feasible way to increase the validity of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination. A recommendation would also be to provide students with an adequate understanding of the benefits and good effects of the examination when the need arises.

Keywords: Objective Structured Clinical Examination, Relevance, Nursing Students, Learning Process, Clinical Proficiency.