Clinical skills in nursing: osce/ospe-a scoping systematic review to develop guidelines for implementation

Background: The OSCE assessment tool has been used in the medicine field long back to assess the competence of students but currently it has been extensively used in nursing field to appraise the clinical competence of nursing students. Method: A systematic review was conducted to bring out the perception on OSCE from faculty and students and the complexities associated with it. An extensive review of nursing literature through different databases was conducted by 2 independent reviewers. Results: The faculty and students perceived OSCE as an effective tool for competency assessment among nursing students and a better evaluation tool over the Traditional Clinical Exam. The various attributes of OSCE; objectivity, skill mix, and well structured format were appreciated but the complexities in OSCE ; time allotted at different stations, student anxiety and the implementation cost were addressed as barriers. Conclusion: Guidelines for the conduct of OSCE has been developed from the review.