Assessing Specialist Interpersonal Skills Through Simulation

“Assessing specialist interpersonal skills through simulation – an innovation in the PreReg Nursing programme”

The new Degree in Nursing course validation includes summative assessment of mental health nursing skills through simulation which was a brand new enterprise.
The challenge for me, as a second year module leader, was how to translate the assessment from the course document into a valid experience for the students.
Elements from the module descriptor I had to consider were
• formative assessment: “Case study presentation – reflective exercises, range of group working skills, peer marking, small group presentations, providing opportunity for formative feedback by tutor, peers and service users”
• summative assessment: “A presentation of a video recording of the student demonstrating a psychosocial intervention applied to an individual / group. This will be supplemented with an annotated bibliography of supporting evidence of the underpinning theoretical perspectives”
Conference presentation will be about how I set this up, how I addressed concerns raised by the students as we explored the process in a collaborative spirit, and how this whole process was evaluated by students and my peers (including external examiner) positively.
Phill Lister (Module leader)
Christopher Broadfield (Course participant)