Does performance on United States national board of medical examiners reflect student clinical experiences in United Arab Emirates?

Abstract

Background: A number of medical schools around the world use the United States National Board of Medical Examiners Subject Examinations as a clerkship assessment of student performance, yet these exams were blueprinted against the United States national core clerkship curriculum which might not be the same as the local curricula to which they are applied in other parts of the world. In this study, we investigated the correlations between the internal medicine clinical experiences at United Arab Emirates University with student performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners subject of internal medicine (NBME). Methods: One hundred and seven junior clerkship students out of 145 (74%) who finished their Internal Medicine clerkship during academic years 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 participated in this study. The students' clinical experiences were measured by the clinical learning evaluation questionnaire (CLEQ) and by the logged number of meaningful patient contacts during their internal medicine clerkship. Results: Linear regression analysis showed no significant association between performance on the subject test and student clinical experiences measured by the CLEQ or the number of logged patients. NBME scores were weakly correlated with OSCEs scores (ɸ 0.20). Conclusions: The study findings raised uncertainties about the suitability of using NBME in the clerkship assessment program in the United Arab Emirates.

Does students’ performance in the formative CLIPP examination predict their scores in the NBMEPSE?

“…It also serves as a global resource and a model for assessing approaches and appraisals in medicine, with a wide array of assessments that are well suited for medical schools (Guiot & Franqui-Rivera, 2018). These assessments allow medical schools to appraise their students’ achievement and compare their performance with a sizable, global and representative group of medical students at the same training stage (Bakoush, Al Dhanhani, Alshamsi, Grant, & Norcini, 2019). They assess both basic and clinical science knowledge (National Board of Medical Examiners, 2016) and comprise 100 multiple-choice questions (MCQs), each constructed in the form of clinical vignettes with one best answer that focuses on the application and integration of comprehension (National Board of Medical Examiners, 2019, 2020).…”