Are you angry about the NMC OSCE???

[WrigleyRN]

I wonder if there is anyone out there who, like me, who has been slogging through the NMC application process and has taken or will take the OSCE? Are any of you ANGRY about the OSCE? I am.

Those of us applying to be registered in the UK have been put through the ringer, been vetted in every way imaginable (references, one year of practical experience required, education hours, training hours, IELTS, etc), and the fact that they add a practical test on top of that is just redundant, unnecessary, and a huge waste of time and resources for everyone. Especially amid the UK nursing shortage, when they should be facilitating the immigration of well-qualified nurses, not hindering us!

I recently took the OSCE and failed the skills section for absolutely bogus and arbitrary reasons. But before finding out that I had a "partial fail", I initially came out of that test feeling confident, like I had done well, and there is no way they would judge me to be an incompetent nurse. But despite my feeling that I performed well, I also emerged from the test simultaneously angry and frustrated, for having just committed 5 weeks of my life to stressing, floundering through disorganized, overabundant study materials on the Nile website, and traveling across the world... all for a test that clearly has nothing to do with assessing a nurse's competence. All the OSCE succeeds in testing is our willingness to jump through meaningless hoops and pay excessive fees!

The fact that we are subjected to this psychological roller coaster is infuriating... especially from an organization whose bedrock is the holistic caretaking of all people!

And why the exorbitant fees? Why do we have to repay the fee if we sit again for the test? Exactly whose pockets are we lining? The whole thing just rubs me the wrong way.

I'm just appalled at what I and others have been through with the OSCE. I plan to appeal my test result and also lodge a complaint both with the University of Northampton and the NMC, who are the controllers of the OSCE. If anyone is interested, I will share what I write, and I encourage ANYONE who is frustrated to write to the NMC and make yourself heard!!!

[kiriann]

I have appealed to the university and the NMC. Just got my response but it is still the same. Let me know if you write to a MP. I just can't understand their fail marks. I failed and supplied evidence that what I did was not actually incorrect. They still won't budge. I really feel that this is a scam of some sort. I sent the university and the NMC the NHS guide lines on intramuscular injections in the guide lines it actually has that some plastic ampoules such as what I was supplied with can be connected straight to the leur loc syringe, and also boxes which show you haw to draw up from them. They should provide candidates with the correct materials if they are so pedantic. The whole thing is a load of crap. They just want our money. I really am fed up with this whole system. No one wants to listen to us. They have different rules for nurses coming from the Philippines. They can work supervised a Trainee Nuses and we have to be HCA the whole thing is bulshit.

[asmallangrycermet]

It will be interesting to see what happens if the Brexit goes through. Will the EU nurses be subject to the same registration procedures as commonwealth nurses? Or will the tables turn and we'll suddenly be able to just wander in and pick up a licence? With how long it is taking us all to get registered, maybe it's worth waiting and seeing - what's another year or two, right? *winks*

[TSwiftRN]

Hi All,

What a great forum and what a ridiculous exam this OSCE is!! I have failed twice now for such stupid pedantic reasons given by UoN. I agree that it seems to be a money making ploy for them. Less than 50% of candidates pass the first time. How they can justify the cost of the exam is beyond me also for the service they provide - especially once you fail and the feedback they give you is 1 sentence??

I am planning on appealing my result though for obvious reasons I am quite pessimistic that anything will change. I am also drafting a letter of complaint to the University - not to argue the point on why I failed (as I feel like this will really just be like flogging a dead horse) but to point out procedural errors, lack of professionalism and a severe lack of consistency in how candidates are treated. It has been brought to my attention that certain candidates have passed for the exact same thing I have been failed for. Perhaps they will start to listen if their ethics are questioned? I will also bring it the NMC's attention.

Does anyone know of any success stories in this regard? Does anyone have any inside scoop on whether the NMC are going to do away with the OSCE at UoN for International RN's? A representative from a nursing agency who has counselled me through the OSCE process and what I can expect has said to me that they are constantly at loggerheads with the NMC about the current OSCE exam. Perhaps it is a matter of collective complaining?

I understand that every Nurse feels they are qualified but seriously I have been an RN for 7 years in Australia and worked in emergency for over 2 years. I can perform complicated emergency life saving procedures competently and any previous superior of mine will say the same thing. Yet the ever so "brilliantly designed" OSCE by UoN has managed to catch out my incompetence - go figure! They have seriously done themselves a significant disservice if we are the sorts of Nurses that they are managing to block from ever working for the NHS.

I know that EU nurses had a bit of a win recently regarding their visa status and not being deported if they are earning less then 35000 pounds a year after being in the UK for 6 years. This was done through EU Nurses getting in touch with a journalist who writes on health system issues for a paper who was able to draw enough attention to it and by lobbying the government to change their stance on EU visa's for nurses. Given the recent Brexit referendum outcome it is hard to imagine a world where enough EU nurses will be able (and allowed) to fill the void in the NHS. The NHS/NMC are going to have to start looking elsewhere. Why not start now and start with good qualified nurses like us instead of making us take the incredibly pointless OSCE exam. On this note I am wondering if anyone has tried lobbying journalists and member's of parliament etc? Perhaps we need to vocalise just how incompetent the UoN is too - I am sure they would hate the bad press.

Anyway, I welcome any thoughts and feedback. I really don't think we can take this lying down!

Good luck to all the other fellows sitting the OSCE!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

With current exit from the EU and more budgeting there are talks on reducing staff not increasing. NHS budget control 'will require staff cuts' - BBC News

I understand frustrations on registering in another country but the UK isn't one of the difficult ones... Australia isn't as easy these days and the same can be said for Canada and the US. Each country has a right to set standards however these standards must have consistency and be the same across the board. I hope you are able to get somewhere with your complaint as things should be the same for all

[kiriann]

It's much harder than Australia and a whole lot more expensive. I really feel that the OSCE is a very unfair test of competence. It should be available at more than one university not just UoN. The money we pay for this exam would be much better spent on a course much like the return to nursing couse then assess that you are safe. I bet Most if the nurses already registered would not pass this exam. With the resources they provide. It's really just a waste of time.

[TSwiftRN]

As Kiriann points out below it is much harder than Australia. You are absolutely correct that each country should be able to determine their own rules regarding how international nurses are registered (ironically in the UK they have not been able to do this when it comes to nurses from the EU - The Australian/NZ health systems and standards are much much more closely aligned with the UK than many countries from within the EU). While a country should retain it's sovereignty in regards to the standards it imposes it does not mean that these standards cannot be criticised if they are pointless, too burdensome and could be done much better. As you correctly point out it would be much better if the standards were consistent between many countries.

[TSwiftRN]

It's much harder than Australia and a whole lot more expensive. I really feel that the OSCE is a very unfair test of competence. It should be available at more than one university not just UoN. The money we pay for this exam would be much better spent on a course much like the return to nursing couse then assess that you are safe. I bet Most if the nurses already registered would not pass this exam. With the resources they provide. It's really just a waste of time.

Hi Kiriann,

Thank you for your post. I could not agree more that the exam is far too expensive and that the money would be much better spent on a course like return to nursing where the nurses can actually be trained on how things operate in the UK! Not be just THROWN into an exam with such limited resources for preparation only to get tricked up on minuscule errors that results in a failure. As you point out, many nurses already working in the UK would fail this exam I am certain.

It should be made clear to all those in this forum and anyone else of importance reading this that the process involved in just getting to the OSCE stage is absolutely huge, drawn out and difficult. If you have made it to the OSCE stage the chances are you are a fantastic nurse, a competent nurse and a nurse who really loves what they do and just wants to do the same thing in the UK! The process in the lead up to the OSCE would weed out any time wasters or incompetent nurses already. The OSCE currently has a less then 50% pass rate for first time test takers - this means the NMC/NHS are turning away (almost) the remaining 50% of good, competent nurses. They are truly doing themselves an injustice.

The exam was only brought in just over a year ago and there are some severe shortcomings that need to be addressed!

[TSwiftRN]

I am a New Zealand Nurse and have been trying to get UK RN registration for 2 and a half years now!! I am almost at the end of my tether with the whole thing. It is soul destroying to not be able to do what I love, what I have trained so hard for and had to give up such a great job back home. I came over here with my Husband thinking surely the NHS would accept NZ nurses with open arms...ha ha how silly and naïve I was! I am on a spouse VISA so not reliant on sponsorship but I have been blocked every step of the way by the NMC. I started my application in the old system but was turned away for being 20 clinical hours (out of 1600) short. Then I re applied in the new system but they refused to transfer my old application and so I fought with them for months. Eventually all they needed me to do was write and sign a statement. I too had to sit the IELTS exam before starting the process (English is the only language I speak being from New Zealand!)

There is no common sense or login within the NMC!

I have recently sat the OSCE and failed the skills part, I re-sat 2 skills just 2 weeks ago and had gone over the RM guidelines for them both. I did them both by the book and now they have failed me AGAIN for contaminating the sterile field! I am appealing my results as I do not recall or believe at any time I contaminated the field. All of the NZ/Australian nurses I have met since being in the UK (almost 3 years now) have had similar problems and many are still in the application process being hindered by the smallest things or illogical reasons such as not having worked in Paediatrics even though they are Adult specialised, will sit the Adult nursing OSCE and ONLY be able to work with Adult patient! It madness.

Is there anyone out there who has appealed a decision and had any positive outcomes? (or heard of any other nurses who have)

If you appeal to the university must you complain/appeal to the NMC as well?

We are all in this together and we should all keep speaking up and sharing. I am looking into contacting an MP or a journalist to shed the light on this situation and what a determent it is to the UK and NHS. The NMC/NHS hate bad press and they have been getting a lot of it lately so it's worth a try to plead our case and fight for our careers and livelihood's. I'm at the point where I have nothing more to lose. I've spent too long waiting and de-skilling and too much money in fee's and lost waged to stop now.

Best wishes to all of you in the process still! Stay strong!

Hi Kiwi_RN, did you contact an MP or a journalist at all? Have you gotten any traction with the NMC?

[kiriann]

Maybe we should all meet up and do this together

[TSwiftRN]

Hi there - thank you for the reply. I respect your experience and your perspective on this. I know you have seen a lot in your time as an IEN.

However, I completely disagree with you. I, and all of us, do have the right to speak our minds if we feel we are trapped in an unjust system.

The fact that other countries like Canada may have more extensive and expensive vetting requirements doesn't justify the NMC's requirements. It only shows that perhaps Canada is the most out of touch with reality, and needs the biggest overhaul of all.

I understand a governing body like the NMC wanting to safeguard the public, and it is their duty to do so. However, it is also their duty to ensure their licensure requirements are valid and fair... Neither of which the OSCE is.

As far as validity is concerned (and this is an important factor for a nursing organization whose bottom line is evidence-based practice), where is the literature that points to this test being an accurate (or even barely sufficient) determiner of competence? I would implore them to publish any literature they have used in the creation of this exam that shows it tests what it is supposed to test: a nurse's competence or lack thereof.

In my case, because I didn't vocalize one line in my skill station, though it was obvious I had done the skill according to guidelines, they failed me. After all my years of applying, my years of practical nursing experience in acute care, my education, the theory test, the passing of all the patient journey aspects of the OSCE.... They will fail me and judge me to be incompetent based on the fact I didn't vocalize one line??? This is unfair, illogical, and insulting.

Mind you, they have informed me I can resit the skills stations. This means they are generously allowing me to fly across the world, pay the excessive fee, pay for accommodation, take PTO from work... And try again to carry out these skills that could potentially be memorized and mimicked by anyone.

I will not be participating in a resit. I have more self-respect than that, and honestly, don't desire to work in a country where well-qualified, experienced nurses are "welcomed" in this way.

I am in a unique position to voice my opinion because I don't actually need to work in the UK. I just thought it would be a cool experience... unlike some of the other nurses taking the OSCE who must work in the UK due to a spouse living there, or whatever reason. I feel empowered because I, for one, am not beholden to the NMC. Thus, I feel I can and should speak up on behalf of everyone that feels intimidated by the NMC and doesn't want to rock the boat and potentially become a target for dismissal.

I know there is already a movement of nurses who are trying to have the NMC do away completely with the OSCE. This is not a new idea. I just didn't know to what degree it had been voiced in an online forum yet. And I wanted to plant the seed here in the minds of competent nurses from around the world that... Things could change if we speak our minds. In the years to come, the NMC can and should grant licensure to qualified RNs without subjecting them to an invalid, redundant, meaningless OSCE.

Hi WrigleyRN, are you able to point me in the direction of the nurses you mention who are trying to have the NMC do away with the OSCE completely? I would imagine that with a less than 50% pass rate for first time test takers there must be hundreds of nurses out there that are incredibly dissatisfied with this process to say the least. It is very hard to find a way to address the NMC and get support without it simply seeming like you are whinging because you failed or weren't good enough.

I have issues with the process from start to finish, however the OSCE is definitely my biggest concern. It has been shown that there are so many inconsistencies with this exam and the material given is confusing, disorganised and sometimes outdated. And it very clearly does not assess your competence as a nurse. We have a nursing degree that we can prove, we have education hours that we can prove, we have practical experience that we can prove, we have significant amounts of real life experience that can be proven and backed up by good references and performance evaluations etc that explicitly state our competency. Yet we are still subject to this ridiculous exam that fails candidates for incoherent reasons. I am in the same situation as you in that I forgot to vocalise one line although I had quite clearly done it and I even tried to clarify that I did it at the end of the station but she just said you are out of time! In my first attempt at the exam, the examiner asked me if there was anything I wanted to clarify and I presumed I would be afforded the same opportunity this time around. However, that was not the case. Had I been given the opportunity I would be happily marching to the NMC soon to collect my pin!

Surely we are not entirely powerless in all of this? There must be something we can do?!?!

[TSwiftRN]

Maybe we should all meet up and do this together

I agree. We really need everyone to come together to be heard here. Who is interested???

[gen88]

For those of you interested, NMC publish current pass rates for OSCE. As you can see, for April 2016 (latest available results) first attempt pass rate is 60%- but this is the highest it's ever been.

Pass rates and number of candidates