# Objective Structured Clinical Examination for pediatric medication administration

## TL;DR

This study validates an exam to assess nursing professionals' skills in administering pediatric medications, showing it is moderately effective for evaluation and learning.

## Contribution

The study establishes the validity and reliability of an OSCE for pediatric medication administration competence.

## Key findings

- The OSCE instrument had 15 items with acceptable construct validity and reliability.
- Bartlett's test and KMO confirmed the instrument's psychometric adequacy.
- The OSCE is moderately acceptable for evaluating clinical skills in pediatric medication administration.

## Abstract

The systematic evaluation of clinical competencies of nursing professionals has been a subject of interest among educators, professionals, and other experts in this field, which enables the tracking of the graduation profile, career trajectory, and achievement of goals throughout the professional career. Faculty must prioritize efficiency in the performance of future nursing professionals by using instruments such as clinical simulation for practice development.

To determine the construct validity of the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for assessing competence in pediatric medication administration.

An observational, psychometric, and prospective study was conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the instrument "Objective Structured Clinical Examination for pediatric medication administration."

The final instrument consisted of 15 items. Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant (χ2 =145.887, p < 0.001), and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was acceptable (0.703). Cronbach’s alpha for the total instrument was 0.798.

Developing psychometric tests for an OSCE in medication administration provides an empirical indicator that can be used accurately in nursing professionals' work.

The validity of the OSCE for assessing competence in pediatric medication administration was established, and the instrument was deemed moderately acceptable for application in this area of knowledge. Its use favors both learning and evaluative processes of clinical practice for health sciences students.