Highlights
- •Oral examinations in undergraduate medical education helps test core clinical Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA).
- •Community-based medical school can increase engagement of faculty with medical education when exams are conducted virtually.
- •Student submission of cases provides flexibility, while aiding comparability, especially when student experiences are varied.
Abstract
Background
As a community-based medical school which recruited faculty preceptors new to teaching,
we sought to create objective assessments for fourth-year surgery experiences via
administration of an oral exam. Students provided three authentic cases, which faculty
used as a springboard to ascertain student proficiency in five entrustable professional
activities: 1-oral presentation, 2-recognition of urgency/instability, 3-calling consults,
4-transitions of care, 5-informed consent. We present proof-of-concept and analysis
of student case submissions.
Methods
Twenty-seven student submissions (79 cases in total) were evaluated for case complexity,
level-appropriateness, and an estimation of the ability to conduct a quality exam
based on the information provided (subjective measures). Objective metrics included
word count, instruction adherence, inclusion of figures/captions. A resident-in-training
rated cases via the same metrics. In-examination data was separately culled.
Results
The average word count was 281.70 (SD 140.23; range 40–743). Figures were included
in 26.1% of cases. Faculty raters scored 29.0% as low-complexity, 37.7% medium-complexity,
and 33.3% high-complexity. Raters felt 62.3% of cases provided enough information
to conduct a quality exam. The majority of cases submitted (65.2%) were level-appropriate
or higher. The resident rater scored cases more favorably than surgeons (Cohen's kappa
of −0.5), suggesting low inter-rater agreement between those of differing experience
levels.
Conclusion
Student's case submissions lessened faculty burden and provided assessors with adequate
information to deliver a quality exam to assess proficiency in clinical skills essential
for residency. Cases demonstrated sufficient complexity and level-appropriateness.
The request to correlate case rating with exam performance is under review by our
institution's assessment office. Near-peer tutoring by resident alumni is a program
under development.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 27, 2023
Accepted:
January 20,
2023
Received in revised form:
January 10,
2023
Received:
November 15,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 Published by Elsevier Inc.
