The usefulness and acceptance of the OSCE in nursing schools

This qualitative study explores the usefulness and acceptance attributed by students and faculty members to an Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) administered to nursing undergraduates in Catalonia (Spain) for 10 years. Seventy undergraduate nursing students and twelve faculty members participated in the study. The data collection techniques included an open-ended questionnaire, a student focus group, and individualized faculty interviews. The students experienced the OSCE positively as a learning event that offered an opportunity for feedback that could help them master the required competencies. The OSCE increased students' responsibility by presenting them with a set of challenges that they had to tackle individually. Moreover, it reaffirmed their confidence in situations that closely resembled professional practice. Faculty members valued the ability of the OSCE to integrate and assess competencies, its objectivity, and the indirect information it provided on the effectiveness of the curriculum. The educational impact attributed to the OSCE and its acceptance among faculty and students suggest that it would be useful to re-implement it in the Bachelor's of Nursing in Catalan universities. Our findings may be of use to other nursing programs considering how to assess competency-based education, especially in the context of the European Higher Education Area.

Nurse prescribing in Spain: The law and the curriculum

In this cross-sectional study, we explored course content related to pharmacology and/or healthcare products and supplies in all nursing degree programs in Spain. Changes in nurse-prescribing legislation in Spain require that nurses take a certification course before prescribing over-the-counter products and medications. Using a cross-sectional descriptive study, between July and September 2014, the degree programs of all centers that offer a degree in nursing in Spain were examined, selecting those with course information available online. All centers offered at least one pharmacology course. One-third of the required courses had content related to pharmacology and healthcare products/supplies. The analysis showed that the course content and training received during the current nursing degree program provides the knowledge and skills needed to prescribe healthcare products/supplies and medications that do not now require a doctor's prescription, without the need for additional training and certification. It is essential that government regulation of nursing education be aligned with nursing competencies, curriculum standards, clinical practice, and evidence-based research to provide the maximum level of confidence for nursing professionals and their patients.