Mrs Barry Ricketts

Background: There is an active strategy to recruit international nurses and midwives to help
manage vacancy gaps in the United Kingdom’s healthcare system. However, there is little
evidence detailing how recruiting organisations prepare new recruits for the Objective
Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) they are required to pass.
Aims and objectives: To gather and analyse feedback from recruiting organisations on the
preparation offered to international nurses and midwives on arrival in the United Kingdom, prior
to undertaking an OSCE in order to gain Nursing and Midwifery Council professional registration.
Design and methods: An online cross-sectional questionnaire. The data was analysed using
thematic analysis.
Results: Four main themes were generated from thematic analysis of the qualitative data: SAME
IDEAS DIFFERENT PRACTICE; PASSING THE OSCE; INDIVIDUALISED SUPPORT;
SUPPORT NETWORKS.
Conclusion: Differences in how organisations prepare and support international nurses and
midwives to undertake the OSCE suggest standardised approaches could benefit new recruits.
Impact statement: Addressing an evidence gap, this research suggests recruits may benefit from
standardised support around working and living in the UK.

Aims

To report the results of a randomised controlled trial which explored the effectiveness of clinical simulation in improving the clinical performance of recognising and managing an adult deteriorating patient in hospital.

Background

There is evidence that final year undergraduate nurses may lack the knowledge, clinical skills and situation awareness required to competently manage a deteriorating patient in hospital. The effectiveness of clinical simulation as an educational strategy to teach the skills required to recognise and effectively manage the early signs of clinical deterioration needs to be evaluated.

Method

This was a two centre, randomised, controlled trial with single blinded assessments. Data were collected in July 2013. Ninety- eight first year nursing students were randomised either into a control group where they received a traditional classroom lecture, or an intervention group where they received simulation training. Participants completed a pre and post- intervention objective structured clinical examination. General Perceived Self Efficacy and Self-Reported Competency scores were measured before and after the intervention. Student satisfaction with teaching was surveyed after the teaching intervention.

Results

The intervention group performed significantly better in the objective structured clinical examination after their simulation training. General Perceived Self Efficacy and Self-Reported Competency were not correlated with performance. There was no significant difference in the post intervention General Perceived Self Efficacy and Self-Reported Competency scores between the control and intervention group. The intervention group were significantly more satisfied with their teaching method.

Conclusion

Simulation based education may be an effective educational strategy to teach nurses the necessary skills to effectively recognise and manage a deteriorating patient.

Background. Clinical simulation in undergraduate nursing programs is prevalent. It is unclear if skills taught by simulation are effectively transferred into clinical practice. This study evaluated the effectiveness of clinical simulation compared with classroom teaching in teaching the assessment of the deteriorating patient. Methods. This study used a phase II, single, randomized, controlled trial with single-blinded assessments. Students were randomly assigned to either a control or an experimental group. Participants underwent pre and post intervention Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) with objective performance criteria. Participants completed self-reported competence and self-efficacy questionnaires both pre- and post-test OSCE and a student satisfaction form. Results. The experimental group displayed a significantly better performance on post intervention OSCE. There was no correlation between self-reported confidence and self-efficacy and OSCE performance. Participants who received clinical simulation teaching were significantly more satisfied with their teaching experience. Conclusion. The study suggests that clinical simulation is a more effective teaching strategy than classroom teaching for the development of the assessment skills of the deteriorating patient.