The development and evaluation of a computer-based resource to assist pre-registration nursing students with their preparation for objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs)

This paper presents a narrative discussion of an innovative, computer-based resource developed, implemented and evaluated by a small project team at a school of nursing and midwifery in London. The interactive resource was designed to assist first and second year pre-registration nursing students with both their clinical skills revision and formative preparation for Objective Structured Clinical Examinations and involved a small range of clinical skills. These included: skin assessment; hand hygiene; reading a drug prescription chart, weighing a baby and assessment of an intravenous cannulae site. The processes involved in the development of the tool are described and, the key drivers informing its development are identified. Although a formal research approach was not adopted a summary of feedback obtained from anonymous student evaluations is included. This provides important insights into the perceived usefulness of the tool and is discussed in light of the challenges and practicalities associated with the content development and technical issues. The paper concludes by identifying proposed future developments and wider applications of this innovative clinical skills education initiative within nursing and healthcare education. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.