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17 Useful Tips to Conquer the OSCE

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We have talked with Canadian RNs in the past and in the present about their nursing skills and knowledge assessment experience. We were lucky to be able to gather their insights to come up with these helpful tips to conquer the Objective Structured Clinical Examination or the OSCE.

(1) Set your mind
Keep in mind that you will be taking an important examination for your nursing career. We recommend to set aside vacation plans to prepare for this.

(2) Make a study plan
Design a study plan based on your own learning curve. 
Know thy self , know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.
Sun Tzu
(3) Limit only on up to 3 Canadian references
Read your Colleges' RN Practice Guidelines and note common health issues in Canada. Provincial RN jurisprudence is also helpful. Learn about vulnerable populations in Canada (e.g. Metis, Inuit, First Nations etc) References on OSCE and Health Assessment are indispensable. YouTube for nursing procedures will help your motor skills.

(4) Enroll in trainings if you feel like you need it to refresh your memory.
There are courses online and in-class training sessions to increase your confidence level.

(5) Attend the OSCE Orientation or Seminar
This course will help you know the exam in a more personal level.

(6) Don't panic. Relax as you start your first station.
You are already an RN. You should know this by now. Anticipate. Keep your mind free from distractions of the outside world beyond the four corners of the exam venue. Focus on this patient-actor waiting in the station. Act as if this is a real patient in the triage.

(7) You will be given 13 minutes per station
Use it wisely. Ask a friend or a colleague to time you as you practice at home or whereever.

(8) Proceed with courtesy to pass and proceed to another item/question
If you are having trouble answering this item, skip and return to this item as soon as you have an answer.

(9) Organize your thoughts on the blank booklet provided
Note important keywords that represent nursing concepts useful in coming up with a response or nursing action.

(10) Don't be intimidated
The invigilators are RNs themselves. They will be your colleagues in the near future!

(11) Do quick ocular survey of the station as you enter
As a nurse, have a quick look around the station for props, equipment or cues that are part of the scenario. What you find in the set is part of the show!

(12) Move forward
Leave it as is. Don't dwell and move on. Do your best shot in the next station and nail them.

(13) Be confident
Keep your head up and answer or perform with confidence. You are being assessed as an entry-level RN. Your experience may have passed this stage before coming to Canada.

(14) Be motivated
Eyes on the prize. Make it a goal to have an Authority To Test the NCLEX-RN or to be eligible for RN licensure.

(15) OSCE is not a measurement of intelligence as an RN
It is a test for endurance in a situation that needs your immediate response or nursing action as an entry-level RN.

(16) Accept whatever result you get.
Having to complete RN Bridging course(s) or the full RN Bridging Program is good enough. Education is an opportunity not a hindrance.

(17) Pray
Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one Who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.
Max Lucado

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