A case study exploration of the adoption of an electronic ongoing achievement record for nursing students' practice assessment

In the United Kingdom student nurses are required to complete half of their undergraduate degree in clinical placement supervised by a mentor. It is a requirement of the practice assessment process that student nurses track and document their learning in clinical practice against regulatory requirements in an ongoing achievement record (OAR) to achieve registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council upon completion of their degree. To date, few empirical studies have examined student nurses’ adoption of an electronic version of the OAR from the perspective of all users. This study examines how the electronic ongoing achievement record (eOAR) was adopted across the community of nursing practice. The research aimed to explore the challenges of adopting the eOAR from the perspective of student nurses, mentors and academics and to determine what, if any, benefit digital practice assessment can provide. A single intrinsic case study using a sequential mixed-methods approach was adopted to capture the richness of participants' self-reports of their experiences regarding interactions with the eOAR. In strand one, data were collected and analysed from the first cohort of students who used the eOAR during the second and third year of their degree in two focus groups (n=10), a student 1:1 interview (n=1) and tutor 1:1 interviews (n=6); this qualitative data were thematically analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six stage framework. In strand two, student engagement data (n=157) from the MyProgress app was examined to determine when formative and summative assessment were completed. In strand three, a survey of mentors (n=62) developed from the analysis of data collected from the student focus groups and academic interviews was undertaken. The research presents an original contribution to knowledge by providing a comprehensive contextual understanding of the adoption of an eOAR by student nurses, academics and mentors. It reveals the interdependency between the dualities of participation and reification on the legitimacy of student nurse practice assessment. It also revealed that using the eOAR improved interconnectivity between academics, students and mentors, resulting in increased active participation by mentors and academics throughout the assessment process and more timely competition of assessment, particularly formative practice assessment. The study also identifies a connection between ease of reification and legitimacy of the eOAR. A taxonomy of specific skills required for digital practice assessment using an app was developed.