Establishing Content Validity of a Novel Written Examination to Assess Medical Students on the Surgery Clerkship A Berlin MD, A Reinert BA, A Swan-Sein MEd PhD, R Nowygrod MD, A Fingeret MD
Agenda Needs assessment Exam Development Exam Design Methodology Results Discussion
Needs Assessment Historical assessment of students – Clinical evaluations – Unstructured oral exam – NBME surgery subject exam Goals of new evaluation tool – Objective and reliable – Congruent with educational objectives – Based on ACGME core competencies
Exam Design Novel Exam: Clinical Skills Exam (CSE) – 20+ clinical scenarios 5 randomly selected per exam – Short answer or essay response – Administered over 3 hours – ExamSoft computer software Grading – Rubric – Senior residents
Example 1 Identify operation Obtain surgical consent Determine order Describe steps shown
Example 2 Generate differential based on history Describe risk factors Interpret radiographic study Identify next step in management
Methodology July, February, 2013 – n = 262 Analysis – Descriptive statistics – Multivariate analysis Comparison data for validity assessment – USMLE Step 1 and 2CK – NBME Subject Exams in Medicine and Surgery – Clerkship clinical evaluations – Clerkship order
Results: Descriptive Statistics – CSE Content and Score Distribution
Results: Trend Analysis – CSE and NBME Surgery Subject Exam
Results: Multivariate Statistics - Validity Analysis CSENBME Correlation Linear RegressionCorrelation Linear Regression rp valuer NBME Surgery0.36*0.82 NBME Medicine Step 10.34* *0.02 Step 20.44* *0.004 Clerk - Clinical Reasoning 0.48* *0.09 Clerk - Fund of Knowledge 0.56* *< * = p < 0.001
Results: Multivariate Statistics – Validity Analysis CSE NBME Bivariate Analysis Logistic Regression p value Clerkship orderANOVA0.30< OB/Gyn priorX20.34< Medicine priorX20.69<
Results: Student Feedback on CSE
Results: Student Feedback - Word Cloud
Limitations – Study Generalizability Statistical analysis
Future Directions Future directions – New content – Open access – Computer algorithm based grading – Use as formative assessment mid-clerkship
Conclusions CSE is a useful adjunct to NBME surgery subject exam – Independent of clerkship order – Course goals and objectives – ACGME core competencies
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