The Effects of Practice on Graduate Nursing Students' Objective Structured Clinical Examination Scores.

Background: Objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) are an important part of the graduate nursing curriculum at The Ohio State University, including in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) program. Despite positive feedback from the OSCE assignments, students often reported experiencing anxiety before the assignments. In 2023, the PMHNP faculty implemented a pre-OSCE practice assignment designed for students to review an initial psychiatric evaluation by interviewing a peer. The authors proposed exposure to the pre-OSCE practice assignment would improve subsequent students' OSCE scores.

Method: Mean OSCE scores were compared using independent samples t test.

Results: No significant differences were found in mean OSCE scores for the group with the pre-OSCE practice assignment and the group without the pre-OSCE practice assignment.

Conclusion: Further exploration is warranted. [J Nurs Educ. 2025;64(X):XXX-XXX.].