Psychometric testing and cost of a five-station OSCE for newly graduated nurses

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is widely used in nursing education, but its implementation is costly and resource intensive, potentially limiting its feasibility. A five-station OSCE was designed to replace a previously validated 12-station OSCE but was not evaluated for its psychometric properties. This study aimed to evaluate the validity, reliability, acceptability, educational impact, and cost of a five-station OSCE using Van der Vleuten's utility formula. This study was based on a cross-sectional, nonexperimental design involving psychometric testing, a survey, and a cost analysis. The five-station OSCE showed high content and predictive validity and inter-rater reliability among examiners. The OSCE format was well accepted by participants and achieved a cost saving of 45.2% compared with the 12-station format. The five-station OSCE provides an authentic and objective assessment of competence among newly graduated nurses.