[Validity and reliability of a clinical performance examination using standardized patients].

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the validity of a modified clinical performance examination (CPX) for preclinical students in nursing.

Method: 70 nursing students in their second semester of the junior year at C University participated in CPX. Scenarios and checklists were developed by our research team from September to October 2005. Six stations were organized. Evaluation included physical examination of a patient with lung cancer, education on usage of a metered dosage inhaler, and lobectomy postoperative care. Students were randomly assigned to a station.

Result: There was a difference in the CPX scores according to stations. The agreement of scoring between trained faculty members and SPs was more than moderate (r=.647). The correlation between the CPX score and the average grade in the previous semester and between the CPX score and the average grade of a paper and pen test of the pulmonary system of adults was low (r=.276; r=.048).

Conclusion: Traditional CPX is generally recommended, however, modified CPX is appropriate for preclinical students in the current Korean Nursing school setting if there are additional scoring systems to balance the testing level at each station.