What is the professional values station in the NMC OSCE?

One of the two written stations in the OSCE. You are given a situation raising a professional or ethical question rather than a clinical procedure, and assessed on the judgement you show, the duties you recognise and how you act on them.

Do I need to quote the NMC Code?

Knowing what the Code requires matters; reciting it does not score on its own. What is assessed is whether your handling of the situation reflects it, which usually shows in what you do about consent, confidentiality, capacity and escalation rather than in whether you name a clause.

Is this station written or spoken?

It is one of the two the NMC groups as written stations, so it involves recording your reasoning as well as handling the situation. Our simulated version has you speak with the person and then account for what you did, which exercises both halves.

Can I practise the professional values station here?

Yes. It is one of the station types the simulator carries, alongside the four APIE stages and evidence-based practice. Simulator attempts come with every access plan, 4 of them with the 99 days plan, which is a full APIE sitting, and in larger packs on their own. Our simulator covers assessment-style stations from the 10: you hold the conversation with a simulated patient by typing, and are marked against criteria we wrote ourselves. The four clinical skills stations are performed on manikins and equipment and are not simulated here. The result is a simulated verdict, not a prediction of how an NMC assessor would mark you.

The professional values station

Written and checked against the NMC’s published sources by The NMCMATE editorial team.Last checked 1 September 2026.

The professional values station gives you a situation where nothing clinical is difficult and the right thing to do is still not obvious. A patient wants to leave against advice; a colleague has done something you are uneasy about; a family member is asking for information the patient has not agreed to share. You are assessed on whether you can hold the Code and the person in front of you at the same time, which is harder than either on its own.

What this station is testing

Recognising which professional duty is actually in play, rather than reaching for the first rule that fits.
Respecting a competent adult's right to make a decision other people think is wrong.
Capacity, consent and confidentiality, applied to the specific person rather than recited.
Escalating to the right person at the right point, and saying why.
Documenting the conversation and the decision, because that record is the protection for everybody in it.
Doing all of it without lecturing, threatening or abandoning the patient.

Where candidates come unstuck

Trying to talk the patient out of their decision. The station is not testing whether you can change their mind; it is testing whether you respect that it is theirs.
Reciting the Code instead of applying it. Naming a principle is worth little; showing what it means for this person is the mark.
Missing the safety net. Somebody leaving against advice still needs to know what to watch for and how to come back, and forgetting that is the commonest way to fail a station you were otherwise handling well.
Escalating instead of engaging, or engaging and never escalating. Both are failures of judgement in opposite directions.
Leaving no record of a conversation that was the entire station.

Common questions

What is the professional values station in the NMC OSCE?: One of the two written stations in the OSCE. You are given a situation raising a professional or ethical question rather than a clinical procedure, and assessed on the judgement you show, the duties you recognise and how you act on them.
Do I need to quote the NMC Code?: Knowing what the Code requires matters; reciting it does not score on its own. What is assessed is whether your handling of the situation reflects it, which usually shows in what you do about consent, confidentiality, capacity and escalation rather than in whether you name a clause.
Is this station written or spoken?: It is one of the two the NMC groups as written stations, so it involves recording your reasoning as well as handling the situation. Our simulated version has you speak with the person and then account for what you did, which exercises both halves.
Can I practise the professional values station here?: Yes. It is one of the station types the simulator carries, alongside the four APIE stages and evidence-based practice. Simulator attempts come with every access plan, 4 of them with the 99 days plan, which is a full APIE sitting, and in larger packs on their own. Our simulator covers assessment-style stations from the 10: you hold the conversation with a simulated patient by typing, and are marked against criteria we wrote ourselves. The four clinical skills stations are performed on manikins and equipment and are not simulated here. The result is a simulated verdict, not a prediction of how an NMC assessor would mark you.

Practise an assessment station

Talk to a simulated patient and get a marked report against the station criteria.

Simulator attempts come with every access plan, 4 of them with the 99 days plan, which is a full APIE sitting, and in larger packs on their own.

Stations are added and rewritten as the exam guidance changes, and every attempt runs against the current version, so a revision reaches your next station rather than a later edition of something you bought.

Watch a marked station See pricing

This page is one part of the exam. Work through the whole thing with the NMC OSCE pages.