A systematic review of clinical assessment for undergraduate nursing students. (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wu, Xi Vivien; Enskär, Karin; Lee, Cindy Ching Siang; Wang, Wenru
• Is Part Of: Nurse education today. Volume 35:Number 2(2015:Feb.)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 359
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: Nursing -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Education, Nursing -- Periodicals; Soins infirmiers -- Étude et enseignement -- Périodiques; Nursing -- Study and teaching; Periodicals; 610.7307
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2014.11.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0260-6917

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="author" id="ab0005"> <title id="st0005">Summary</title> <sec> <title id="st0010">Background</title> <p id="sp0005">Consolidated clinical practicum prepares pre-registration nursing students to function as beginning practitioners. The clinical competencies of final-year nursing students provide a key indication of professional standards of practice and patient safety. Thus, clinical assessment of nursing students is a crucial issue for educators and administrators.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="st0015">Objective</title> <p id="sp0010">The aim of this systematic review was to explore the clinical competency assessment for undergraduate nursing students.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="st0080">Data sources</title> <p id="sp0020">PubMed, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and EBSCO were systematically searched from January 2000 to December 2013.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="st0020">Methods</title> <p id="sp0025">The systematic review was in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Published quantitative and qualitative studies that examined clinical assessment practices and tools used in clinical nursing education were retrieved. Quality assessment, data extraction, and analysis were completed on all included studies.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="st0025">Results</title> <p id="sp0030">This review screened 2073 titles, abstracts and full-text records, resulting in 33 included studies. Two reviewers assessed the quality of the included studies. Fourteen quantitative and qualitative studies were identified for this evaluation. The evidence was ordered into emergent themes; the overarching themes were current practices in clinical assessment, issues of learning and assessment, development of assessment tools, and reliability and validity of assessment tools.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="st0030">Conclusion</title> <p id="sp0035">There is a need to develop a holistic clinical assessment tool with reasonable level of validity and reliability. Clinical assessment is a robust activity and requires collaboration between clinical partners and academia to enhance the clinical experiences of students, the professional development of preceptors, and the clinical credibility of academics.</p> </sec> </abstract>