CHALLENGES OF AN OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION AMONG SELECTED SUDANESE NURSING FACULTIES

Omer Abdalgabar Musa Hassan*, Higazi Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah Awad, Mahassin Almahi Balla Fadil Alla, Zeinab Abaker Ahmed, Mohamed Idriss Yahia Musa and Egbal Abbashar Algamar

ABSTRACT

Background: The Objective Structured Clinical Examination assesses clinical competence but encounters logistical, scoring, stress, and bias challenges, affecting its validity and reliability. Objectives to determine the challenges associated with OSCE implementation among selected Sudanese nursing faculties. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from January 2021 to March 2023 across four Khartoum nursing faculties involved 54 OSCE examiners using observational checklists and questionnaires. Results: The study found that, internal consistency of the study tools was satisfactory, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.81 for the observational checklist, 0.80 for the self-administered questionnaire. The environment and equipment availability at OSCE stations were generally adequate, although some challenges were noted, including varying levels of examiner experience. Conclusion: The study identified challenges in implementing OSCEs in Sudanese nursing faculties, such as logistical constraints, examiner experience variability, and resource limitations. Addressing these issues is essential for enhancing OSCE effectiveness, fairness, and quality in nursing education.

Keywords: OSCE, Clinical competence, Nursing education, Challenges.