Development and Testing of Capstone OSCEs to Evaluate Readiness for APRN Clinical Practice

A common concern among Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) educators is the ability to determine whether APRN students are ready to practice safely and effectively in the clinical arena. While students are regularly evaluated formatively during the clinical site visit, there has been little attention focused on a clinical summative evaluation similar to those conducted in other clinical fields such as dentistry and medicine. External requirements to demonstrate competence in health care are increasing. This collaborative project engaged in the development of capstone clinical OSCEs for APRN students in family practice, adult-gerontology, adult-women’s health, and midwifery based on nationally recognized core clinical competencies. The purpose of the capstone OSCE experience was to provide information about the clinical readiness and competence of students to care for patients with common concerns in their respective fields as well as to provide faculty with information about areas of curricular weakness within and across programs and among individual students. Lessons learned in developing and beta-testing the capstone OSCE will be shared with learners and future implications will be explored.

This capstone project is support by a HRSA Advanced Education Nursing grant, “Promoting Excellence in APRN Education: A Regional Approach to Quality, Safety, and Diversity” (Grant Number D09HP22637)