OSCE › Station
Safeguarding and a distressed next-of-kin
RCSI heading: Safeguarding and related matters. You get 2 minutes with the descriptor outside the door and 10 inside, marked competent or not competent on every line. RCSI publishes a sample descriptor for this station; ours follows its parts with a different patient. Check rcsi.com before your date.
Rehearse it
Stand up, say it aloud, use whatever is on your desk as the equipment. The debrief is the competency sheet and the assessor’s questions.
To assess your understanding of safeguarding and how you communicate with a next-of-kin who has a concern, then how you name the abuse, escalate it, explain consent and capacity, and record the conversation.
Mrs Mary Kelly, 84, was admitted three days ago from home with dehydration and a urinary tract infection. You admitted her. Her daughter rings the ward, upset: she has found that her mother’s pension has been withdrawn every week by a neighbour who "helps with the shopping", the fridge at home was empty, and her mother has bruises on her upper arms that she will not explain.
Part 1 is the call; the assessor plays the daughter, who ends by saying she wants to take it further and that nobody is protecting her mother. Part 2 is with the assessor. Nurses’ notes are on the desk for you to record the conversation.
- Identify: who the patient is, who the caller is and their relationship, who you are and your role
- Explore the concern with open questions; let her tell it
- Respond with a range of techniques: acknowledge, reflect, summarise, silence, check understanding
- Keep a caring, professional relationship throughout; no blame, no promises you cannot keep, no confidentiality breach
- Listen empathetically to the end, including when she says she will take it further and says goodbye
- Name the types of abuse in this case and say how each applies
- Detail the action to take for the patient now
- Say how and to whom the matter is escalated
- Explain how you make sure the patient has capacity to give informed consent
- Outline what happens under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, commenced April 2023, if she lacks capacity for a decision
- Say what the JAM card is
- Record what was said by both of you, factually; sign with your full name, print it, date and time it
Throughout: communicate in an accurate, clear and effective manner; demonstrate a level of competence essential for safe practice.
The pass: theory and OSCE
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Competencies assessed
Every RCSI descriptor lists the same five domains from the NMBI standards.
- Professional values and conduct of the nurse
- Nursing practice and clinical decision-making
- Knowledge and cognitive competences
- Communication and interpersonal competences
- Management and team competences
Mistakes candidates report
- Skipping the identification. Discussing a patient with a caller before you know who they are is a confidentiality breach.
- Promising "I will sort this out" or "it will not happen again". You can promise to report it today, nothing more.
- Naming only one type of abuse. This case has three; the assessor is counting.
- Escalating to "the doctor" or "the social worker" and stopping. The route is the designated officer and the Safeguarding and Protection Team.
- Writing the note as a summary in your words. It records what each of you said.
Practise the parts
Sources
- RCSI sample descriptor two: safeguarding and next-of-kin (preparation page) checked 2026-09-16
- HSE: Safeguarding Vulnerable Persons at Risk of Abuse, National Policy (2014) checked 2026-09-16
- HSE National Consent Policy (2022) checked 2026-09-16
- Safeguarding Ireland: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act guide (2023) checked 2026-09-16
- JAM Card: Just A Minute checked 2026-09-16
This descriptor is a practice piece written to the shape of the RCSI samples. It is not an exam task, and the exam may ask anything from the reading list.