The Faculty of Health Sciences, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), has conducted practicum assessment test for the students of 300, 400 and 500 levels in the Department f Punic Health at the Kaduna Study Centre.
Dean of the faculty, Prof. Shehu Usman Adamu, said the students who converged on the centre on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, were drawn from Kaduna, Kagoro, and the Nigerian Air Force Special Study Centres after their field exercises and the subsequent acquisition of practical experience.
He told NOUN News in Kaduna that “the university has changed the mode of assessment in which hitherto we send the students to the hospitals and other health related institutions where they acquire the experience and then the preceptors score them and then the university moderates the scores.
“The Vice-Chancellor insisted that there must be a uniform method of scoring which generated to this written test. It has been observed that it has increased the efficiency and also put the university in the same page all over the study centres. This is the scoring method.”
According to him, with the new method, the scoring of the practicum is no longer at the discretion of the preceptor, desk officer or any facilitator, as it is now based on the scores obtained by a student.
The dean noted the great effort of the NOUN VC towards improving the method of assessment in the department.
“Looking at it, there were sets of questions which covered the entire weekly activities of the practicum and the entire period of the activity, which make the student sit up and it has increased their knowledge and at least the method has pushed them to read harder because they know they are coming for a written test.
“Moreover, it has really improved the performance and skills of the students and assisted the department in arriving at a uniform method of assessment so no more discretional assessment for practicum. Kudos to the Vice-Chancellor for suggesting that to the department,” said the dean.
He therefore maintained that the exercise was a success and called on the students to use this opportunity to acquire more hands-on skills.
He advised the students to change their units in a situation they were posted to the same hospital for a practicum where they work. “If you were in the ward then you should go to a different unit to acquire additional knowledge.”
According to Adamu, based on his interaction with the students, a substantial number of them were inclined to the increase in the number of weeks for the practicum instead of the initial three or six weeks.
He appreciated the Kaduna Study Centre director, Mr. Yusuf Abdullahi and his staff for their immense contribution towards making sure that the exercise became a success.
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