OSCEs: do you know how?

Abstract:

Practical teaching and assessment of learned skills are essential components of any veterinary nursing course to ensure students can carry out RCVS Day One Skills safely. In addition, passing the objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) is also required for professional registration with the RCVS. OSCE examinations have been used for a long time to assess competence and thus safe practice due to their reliability to test each student on the same task. However, it is understood by many educators in this industry, and others, that OSCEs elicit anxiety and stress. Many students will worry about OSCEs long before they are due to sit the exams. Therefore, it is essential that we work together to guide students towards these exams to minimise the effects of this. One way we can achieve this is by offering clarity of the process of the exams. This article aims to assist clinical coaches, educators and students in their approach to the OSCEs, as well as offering explanation as to why we do them, how they work and what can be done to try to reduce the effects of stress and anxiety leading up to them.

Keywords: :

• OSCE
• examiner
• practical exam
• assessment
• education
• veterinary nursing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Evie Yon

Evie Yon BSc (Hons) PG Cert VE FHEA RVNI qualified as an RVN in 2015 and achieved my BSc in Veterinary Nursing from the RVC in 2016. I worked in first opinion practice for one year before returning to the RVC to work as a Surgery Ward nurse until 2018. I then left to pursue a career in teaching. I spent one year working for the College of Animal Welfare, before once again returning to the RVC as a Teaching Fellow in Veterinary Nursing. In my spare time, I ride and walk my dog, Horace. I also have two cats called Bea and Darcy. My husband and I are also training for our third half marathon.Email: [email protected]