Department of Surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78229, USA.
J Surg Educ. 2011 May-Jun;68(3):246-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2010.12.009. Epub 2011 Feb 23.
Performance on the American Board of Surgery (ABS) Qualifying Exam (QE) correlates well with chief resident American Board of Surgery In-Training Exam (ABSITE) scores. Yearly ABSITE performance is a useful gauge of resident fund of knowledge and can identify residents at risk of QE failure. We hypothesize that a brief practice exam administered 1-3 times each academic year can identify residents at risk of poor ABSITE performance and also identify early in the chief resident year those at risk for poor QE performance.
In 2005 we began administering 2-3 times/year an approximately 50 question exam consisting of questions authored by residents and edited by faculty based on the ABSITE exam keywords. The exam was considered mandatory and educational time was allotted. Data were analyzed by determining an individual's score deviation from the mean within PGY class. The standard deviation was then compared to the corresponding years ABSITE percentile and in the final year, QE performance using the Spearman rank correlation test.
A total of 710 individual practice exams were offered and 462 (65.1%) were completed in 9 sessions. Two hundred sixty-three residents completed both a practice examination and ABSITE in the year preceding the administration of the ABSITE. Twenty-six chief residents completed a practice examination in the year immediately preceding the ABS QE. Correlations between practice exam scores and ABSITE score percentile were statistically significant (p= 0.01-0.05) for each year the test was administered. The correlation between the practice exam score for chief residents preceding the QE and first attempt QE score was also significant (r =0.416, p<0.05).
A resident's performance on a brief practice exam administered throughout the year is significantly correlated with both ABSITE performance and ABS QE performance. Such a test can be a useful adjunct for identifying residents at risk for poor ABSITE performance as well as identify prior to return of ABSITE scores those residents at risk for poor ABS QE performance.
美国外科委员会（ABS）资格考试（QE）的表现与住院医师美国外科委员会培训考试（ABSITE）成绩密切相关。每年的 ABSITE 表现是衡量住院医师知识储备的有用指标，可以确定 QE 考试失败风险较高的住院医师。我们假设，每年进行 1-3 次简短的模拟考试，可以识别出 ABSITE 成绩不佳的住院医师，并且还可以在住院医师年早期识别出 QE 成绩不佳的风险较高的住院医师。
2005 年，我们开始每年进行 2-3 次考试，考试内容包括由住院医师撰写并由教员根据 ABSITE 考试关键词编辑的大约 50 个问题。该考试被认为是强制性的，并分配了教育时间。通过确定个体在 PGY 班级内的平均分数偏差来分析数据。然后将标准差与当年的 ABSITE 百分位进行比较，在最后一年，使用 Spearman 秩相关检验比较 QE 表现。
共提供了 710 次单独的模拟考试，在 9 次考试中有 462 次（65.1%）完成。263 名住院医师在参加 ABSITE 考试前的一年完成了一次模拟考试和 ABSITE。26 名住院医师在参加 ABS QE 考试前的一年完成了一次模拟考试。在进行考试的每一年，实践考试成绩与 ABSITE 成绩百分位的相关性均具有统计学意义（p=0.01-0.05）。在 QE 考试前的一年中，住院医师的实践考试成绩与第一次 QE 考试成绩之间的相关性也具有统计学意义（r=0.416，p<0.05）。
在一年中进行的简短模拟考试的成绩与 ABSITE 成绩和 ABS QE 成绩显著相关。这样的考试可以作为识别 ABSITE 成绩不佳的住院医师的有用辅助手段，并且可以在 ABSITE 成绩返回之前识别出那些 QE 成绩不佳的风险较高的住院医师。
