Correlation of Clinical Skills Self-Assessment of Nursing Internship Trainees With Their Teachers' Evaluation

Background: It is believed that self-evaluation can empower students; help them to pick higher goals and to try harder to realize these targets. However, the nursing students' self-evaluation on clinical skills has rarely been studied. Objectives: To investigate the correlation of nursing internship trainees' self-evaluation of clinical skills with their teachers' evaluation. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 75 nurse interns of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2010. Data obtained using a questionnaire including questions on demographic characteristics as well as 190 items related to 15 categories of nursing skills necessary for caring for different medical, surgical and critically ill patients. The students' self-evaluation score was compared with their mean score of theoretical and clinical courses. The data was analyzed in SPSS 11.5 using t test and correlation coefficient. Results: The overall self-evaluation mean score was at a moderate level. The mean scores the students received from their teachers in theoretical and clinical courses were 15.12 +/- 1.30 and 16.55 +/- 1.56 respectively. The mean score of the students' self-evaluation in clinical skills was 396.4 +/- 93.6. A significant relationship was observed between the overall self-evaluation mean score and the scores the students received from their teachers in clinical (r = 0.78, P = 0.001) and theoretical courses (r = 0.51, P = 0.001). A significant difference was observed between self-evaluation scores of students in the seventh and eighth semester. Self-evaluation scores were at a good level in six areas and at a moderate level in nine categories. Conclusions: The students' overall self-assessment score was significantly correlated with scores given by their teachers. The students' self-evaluation scores were at moderate levels in different areas. Self-evaluation may be used as a good method for evaluating students' clinical skills.