Intercollegiate FRCS Update David Ward Council & Chairman JCIE

FRCS Section 1 2 papers, single best answer and extended matching must pass to proceed to part 2 3 years from 1st attempt Section 2 structured interviews on clinical topics scenario-based (orals) & patient-based (clinicals) exact style specialty-based 3 attempts, then restart part 1

Section 2 patient-based (clinicals) scenario-based (orals): 2 - 4 long & short in CT, neuro, OMFS, paed, plastics, short & intermediateT&O short: all ENT: practical x1 scenario-based (orals): 2 - 4 general surgery: academic x1

FRCS Section 1: 2009 Specialty Number sitting Pass mark Passes Kuder-Richardson KR20 Cardiothoracic 13 14 63.54 65.90 68% 50% .921 .887 General 110 128 62.45 61.82 61.56 77% 69% .848 .903 Neurosurgery 29 19 58.95 70.21 90% 42% .844 .889 Otolaryngology 59 57 60.01 59.49 80% 75% .894 .920

Section 1: 2009 Specialty Number sitting Pass mark Passes KR20 OMFS 13 15 69.36 70.68 69% 100% .864 .758 Paediatric Surgery 12 8 65.90 64.69 50% .887 .873 Plastic Surgery 39 40 63.07 64.13 75% .932 .923 T & O 156 123 62.64 63.50 67% 80% .917 .937 Urology 51 34 60.01 66.38 84% 66% .898 .902

Section 2 Pass Rates: 2009 Type 1 Out of Training Overall Cardiothoracic 90% 88% 71% 100% 75% 76% General Surgery 77% 86% 82% 42% 38% 29% 68% 68% 64% Neurosurgery 87% 89% 47% 25% 66% 50% OMFS 89% 94% - - Otolaryngology 74% 70% 19% 11% 60% 52% Paediatric Surgery 58% 82% 20% 25% 47% 67% Plastic Surgery 73% 57% 30% 8% 63% 40% T & O 79% 81% 79% 89% 35% 34% 55% 30% 64% 56% 69% 72% Urology 89% 95% 37% 41% 69% 65%

FRCS: costs £1795: part 1 £520 part 2 £1275 not for profit: turnover £2.2m, surplus £150K investment for changes++ questions expensive to produce: examiners & staff standard setting IT investment: e.g. question bank software £35K

Recent developments on-line applications (£173k) question bank software (£40k) oral question bank, images computer based testing IQA examiner & assessor training general & vascular surgery – work in progress

New Regulations Section 1 Section 2 2 years from 1st attempt, max 4 attempts in that time, no re-entry Section 2 max 3 attempts, no re-entry