In an effort to create standardization of Nursing Skill Assessment, Wockhardt Hospitals Group in association with Careersindia, a leading workforce assessment services company in India, has introduced Wockhardt Nursing Skill Test (NST). The online test allows to measure the basic domain knowledge of prospective nurses seeking employment with the group.

More than 30,000 nurses graduate from various nursing colleges and schools across India annually seek employment at hospitals in India. Under the NST, any nurse seeking employment at Wockhardt Hospitals across the country can go to the nearest designated Web Centre log on to http://www.careersindia.com/nursing and answer 70 multiple choice questions in 47 minutes. The topics include Basic Nursing Skills, Medical Surgical Nursing, Child Health Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Midwifery and spoken language evaluation.

On completion of the test candidates are provided immediate access to their "Individual Assessment Report". This report is designed to provide candidates with module wise percentile scores which reflects the candidate's performance. Based on the scores candidates will either enter the next round of the interview process or be dropped. A photograph of every candidate taking the test is taken by the web centre and attached to the report which ensures the security and authority of the process.

"With our rapid expansion across the country we are currently recruiting more than 200 nurses each month out of the 2000 candidates that are screened by our HR team. The NST process will ensure that nurses do not have to travel across geographical locations to go through the interview process which will now start only after the NST clears the candidates for the next round," said Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals Group.

Developed in association with Careersindia, a company which has made a mark in the area of online workforce assessments in industry, the NST has been compiled by the experts in Nursing, Doctors and Language professionals and validated by practitioners from the Wockhardt hospitals Group. Across the country, Wockhardt Hospitals have tied up with more than 3000 web centres where the test can be taken by the candidates.

"The NST test score will now be the foundation of our nurse recruitment process. Currently, our team spends 40 minutes with each candidate to assess their basic skills through a physical interview process and many candidates are dropped for lack of basic knowledge. Through this process we will not only be able to screen many candidates but also help them save time and traveling expense, " said Kumar Krishnaswamy, Group Head, HR, Wockhardt Hospitals.