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Anatomy of a Clerkship Test
Author(s) -
Senecal Emily L.,
Askew Kim,
Gorney Barbara,
Beeson Michael S.,
Manthey David E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2010.00880.x
Subject(s) - medicine , test (biology) , medical education , subject (documents) , medical school , reliability (semiconductor) , educational measurement , academic institution , medical physics , medline , library science , paleontology , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , political science , law , biology
Written examinations are frequently used to assess medical student performance. Within emergency medicine (EM), a National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) subject examination for EM clerkships does not exist. As a result, clerkship directors frequently generate examinations within their institution. This article reviews the literature behind the use of standardized examinations in evaluating medical student performance, describes methods for generating well‐written test questions, reviews the statistical concepts of reliability and validity that are necessary to evaluate an examination, and proposes future directions for testing EM students. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:S31–S37 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine