A focus group study of the use of video-recorded simulated objective structured clinical examinations in

nurse practitioner education

Mr Julian Barratt Senior Lecturer

London South Bank University

Nurse Practitioner

Concordia Health

Plan

• Background to the study• Research question• Methods• Results• Limitations of the study• Recommendations for practice

Background to the study

• This project was concerned with helping nurse practitioner students prepare for their advanced nursing objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs).

• The use of simulated video recordings of OSCEs was trialled as an educational preparation method for student OSCE revision.

Research question

• What is the value of using video recorded simulated OSCEs for nurse practitioner students’ clinical skills exam preparation?

The simulated OSCE videos

• The simulated OSCE videos were recorded in a clinical skills laboratory using a digital camcorder.

• A range of simulated OSCE stations were recorded, covering both history taking and physical examination.

Video stills from the simulated OSCEs

Research methods

• A qualitative education research study utilizing a focus group evaluation of nurse practitioner students’ post-OSCE opinions of a new type of learning material; the digitally video-recorded simulated OSCEs.

Online videos

• The videos were shown to the students in classes and workshops and also made available via the video-sharing site ‘You Tube’.

Focus groups

• Once the students had completed their OSCEs and received their results they participated in one of two focus groups; either a traditional face-to-face group, or an online group using an Internet-based discussion board.

• The focus group data was analysed using thematic content analysis to provide summary grouped themes representing the research findings.

Results

• Visual learning: a majority of students identified themselves as visual learners and felt that using the video-recordings enhanced their learning style preference.

Results

• Clarification and reinforcement: the video-recordings provided clarification of OSCE points that students were unclear about.

Results

• Online convenience: all of the students liked the convenience of the online availability of the OSCE videos.

Results

• Class-based discussions of the videos were not useful: not much value was added to the videos by discussing them; students preferred to actually practise the skills observed in the videos.

Results

• Improvements need to be made to the simulated OSCE video-recordings: including the quality of the video-recordings, alongside an increase in the available range of simulated OSCEs.

Wider perspectives

• All of the participants felt that using the videos added value to their clinical skills exam preparation.

• Some of the students were able to recall the videos during their actual OSCEs.

• Video-recorded clinical simulations help to develop the link between critical thinking and experiential reasoning.

Limitations of the study

• The study is limited to a non-probablity sample of one group of nurse practitioner students in one university.

• The credibility of the analysis cold have been enhanced through employing either member checks of the transcribed data or independent verification of the data analysis.

Recommendations for practice

1. Video-recorded simulated OSCEs should be used to support nurse practitioner educational development.

2. Videos should be trialled with a wider range of OSCE simulations using actors as patients to increase their authenticity.

3. The online availability of OSCE video-recordings is convenient and popular and their use should be extended.

Further reading

• Barratt, J. (in press) A focus group study of the use of video-recorded simulated objective structured clinical examinations in nurse practitioner education. Nurse Education in Practice.

• Contact: barrattj@lsbu.ac.uk