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Effectiveness Of An Observed Structured Clinical Examination

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The purpose of the study was to test and determine the effectiveness of an observed structured clinical examination (OSCE) with the focus on improving palliative care skills for advance practice nurses (APNs) and medical fellows. The outcome of this pilot test is endless for the use of training other disciplines in health care that deal with issues of palliative care. The effectiveness of this pilot showed with the use of three stations testing instruments learners and faculty gain valuable resources. These instruments tested one’s skills, their ability of breaking bad news to patients and family, setting effective and practical goals of care with the patient, and assessing a patient’s mental status. Focus groups were also used to gain learner perspective on the training and provide feedback on what could be improved in the training sessions.
Sample Procedure The targeted population was a nonrandom selection of twelve learners across the medical field that would be dealing with palliative care chosen on a volunteer basis. Within the sample was seven APN students, of which on one student related during a focus group had any prior experience with this type of training. The physician trainees consisted of three medical fellows in the field of geriatrics and two palliative care fellows of which they related some exposure to OSCEs, but not in relation to palliative care. While this was an appropriate sample size for this formative study and inclusion of a larger population to

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