How would the students evaluate themselves in clinical settings: Results of a Study

The evaluation of learner’s performance is one of the important and critical components in teaching-learning process. The aim of this study is to explain the student's experiences of self-assessment in clinical practice. In this qualitative study in 2010, semi-structured interviews conducted with 20 Nursing and Midwifery students. The sampling method was purposeful and with maximum variation. All of the participants answered two open-ended questions "how do you assess yourself in clinical practice? and do you remember any clinical situation that you assessed yourself?" The probing questions were used to make deeper the interviews. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis method. The oral informed consent was obtained for the participation in voice recording. The analysis of the student's experiences indicated that the self-assessment criteria are the combination of verbal and non-verbal judgments of instructor, staff, peer & patients & also student’s self-assessment. Attracting ‘instructor & patients’ satisfaction and trust, shining among others and being responsible are mental criteria of self-judgment in clinical area. Therefore, the students sometimes didn’t accept the external evaluator’s assessment grading as real ones, since they suppose them superficial & formal. The findings of this study. Indicate that students evaluate with their own criteria that some of them are written as assessment documents and some of them not. The students are receiving constantly cues from external and internal environment. It seems current evaluation methods are not enough accurate. We need to more research to understand if the students and faculties have the same views on evaluation or not.