Interpretation
The study results showed that using mini-CEX for formative assessments can improve nurse anesthesia students’ clinical skills. According to the students’ scores, the mini-CEX assessments helped students master their skills and better identify their weaknesses and strengths. The students were also highly satisfied with using this method for clinical settings because they received feedback in a real environment immediately after performing these skills. In addition, the educational tips and skills resulting from this feedback were better retained by the students. This feedback is more likely to be incorporated subsequently in a similar situation than when students receive feedback only in the classroom or at the end of an internship, which again confirms the effect of the mini-CEX model on the improvement of students’ clinical skills.In our study, students’ performance was measured objectively and under various conditions so that the evaluators could better understand the students’ performance. The summative evaluations of the students’ clinical performance could have been fairer. This result highlights the importance of using formative assessments to educate students in clinical settings better, help them acquire practical skills, develop professional responsibility, and shift from dependent and supervised practice to fully independent practice. Since the quality of education is usually measured based on the results of learners’ performance, it behooves policymakers and managers, who are involved in students’ clinical education, to adopt appropriate strategies for better education and evaluation. Therefore, using innovative and workplace-based models, such as mini-CEX, for clinical training and evaluation is necessary because the regular evaluation of students’ performance is closely related to their skill acquisition [