The Jordan Nursing Council hosted the Arab Board of Health Specializations' final practical examination for family medicine at its premises on Saturday, marking the first time the council's standardised patient programme has been used to conduct clinical stations within an Arab board examination.
اضافة اعلان
Secretary-General Dr. Hani Al-Nawafla said the integration of standardised patients into the examination represented a qualitative advance in the council's capacity for clinical assessment, simulation and competency measurement. He said it raised the council's role in hosting professional and specialist examinations to a more advanced level in support of competency-based clinical evaluation.
Al-Nawafla explained that the standardised patient programme involves preparing and training individuals to portray specific clinical cases and scenarios in a realistic, structured and consistent manner before candidates. This provides equivalent clinical situations that allow performance to be assessed against defined objectives and standards, he said, while enhancing the objectivity and consistency of the evaluation process.
He said the standardised patients underwent an intensive training programme to prepare them to deliver clinical cases and scenarios accurately and uniformly, drawing on best practices and international standards in human simulation and standardised patient methodology - including the standards of the Association of Standardized Patient Educators (ASPE) and the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH).
The training focused on mastering clinical scenarios, standardising case presentation and responses to candidates, and maintaining the realism, stability and repeatability of performance across candidates, Al-Nawafla said, providing a consistent assessment experience and strengthening the reliability and quality of clinical evaluation.
Al-Nawafla noted that the use of the council's Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre in the examination marked a new milestone in a process that began when Her Royal Highness Princess Muna Al-Hussein, president of the Jordan Nursing Council, inaugurated the centre in 2022. The centre was established to meet the training and educational needs of health professionals at local, regional and international levels. He said the deployment of the standardised patient programme in an Arab medical specialty examination demonstrated the broader application of that infrastructure to clinical and specialist assessment.
He stressed that the importance of clinical assessment and simulation extends beyond the examination process to improving the quality of practice and patient safety, by measuring a practitioner's ability to apply knowledge, skills, communication and clinical decision-making within a structured, safe environment that mirrors real practice.
Al-Nawafla said cooperation with the Arab Board of Health Specializations strengthens the exchange of expertise and broadens the use of the Jordan Nursing Council's capabilities in examinations, simulation and clinical assessment, expanding collaboration in developing professional and specialist evaluation systems across the Arab world.
He added that the council is working to build an integrated competency-based assessment system combining examination management, simulation, standardised patients and clinical evaluation - supporting the quality of health education, training and practice, and reinforcing the shift from measuring theoretical knowledge alone to measuring a practitioner's ability to apply knowledge and skills effectively in practice.
This article was originally written in Arabic for Al Ghad. It was translated into English with AI assistance and edited by Jordan News.
