VALIDITY OF AN OBJECTIVE STRUCTURED CLINICAL EXAMINATION (OSCE) BASED ON THE NURSING PRACTICE FRAMEWORK

Abstract Background: Interest is increasing in using the OSCE as means of gauging clinical competency. Yet there are issues with the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE's) validity. The aim: the aim of this study was to assess the construct of validity of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for evaluating the nursing skills. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2021 to March 2023 across four governmental nursing faculties in Khartoum. The study involved OSCE examiners and final medical-surgical nursing OSCE stations. Data were collected using two tools: an observational checklist, and a clinical standardized checklist. Face and content validity were ensured through expert reviews, and reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Results: The study found that the OSCE stations demonstrated high face and content validity as assessed by experts. The internal consistency of the study tools was satisfactory, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.81 for the observational checklist and 0.90 for the clinical standardized checklist, the analysis showed that a substantial majority (93.8%) of the OSCE checklists were poorly constructed in terms of performance level criteria. Conclusion: The study confirms the validity of OSCE as an assessment tool in nursing education at governmental faculties in Khartoum. Overall, the evidence supports the validity and reliability of OSCE in nursing education at Khartoum governmental faculties, making it a strong tool for clinical competence assessment.