Department of Neuroradiology, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, SE5 9RS, UK; School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, Rayne Institute, 4th Floor, Lambeth Wing, St. Thomas' Hospital, SE1 7EH, London.
Department of Radiology, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth PO6 3LY, UK.
Clin Radiol. 2018 Dec;73(12):992-998. doi: 10.1016/j.crad.2018.09.005. Epub 2018 Oct 12.
The Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR) examination is the professional qualification that is essential for career progression in clinical radiology within the UK. It is also important for career progression in many countries internationally. The FRCR has evolved and changed over the last decade. In this systematic review we appraise and summarise the available data relating to the FRCR emphasising the published evidence regarding the validity, reliability, and acceptability of this examination. Comparison is made to other equivalent medical examinations, as well as a more recently published commissioned external review of the FRCR examinations. The Clinical Radiology Part 2B (CR2B) examination in its pre-existing format is reliable, valid, and acceptable. Recommendations from the commissioned external review are based primarily on expert opinion, with a limited evidence base comprising data from a small sample acquired during a single examination sitting and without peer review. Unlike the CR2B examination, there is little evidence regarding assessment of the CR1 and CR2 examinations. Both the CR1 and CR2 examinations are currently in the process of undergoing major changes to their formats. Blueprinting items to the curriculum might improve acceptability. Other changes may improve transparency and reliability of these assessments. Our analysis and many aspects of the external review may provide pointers regarding how the upcoming data produced by the "automated" FRCR examinations can be further analysed to provide a more robust evaluation.
皇家放射学院院士（FRCR）考试是英国临床放射学职业发展所必需的专业资格，在国际上许多国家的职业发展中也很重要。在过去的十年中，FRCR 经历了发展和变化。在本系统评价中，我们评估和总结了与 FRCR 相关的现有数据，重点介绍了关于该考试的有效性、可靠性和可接受性的已发表证据。我们还将 FRCR 与其他同等的医学考试进行了比较，并对 FRCR 考试进行了最近发布的委托外部审查。以现有形式存在的临床放射学第二部分 B（CR2B）考试是可靠、有效且可接受的。委托外部审查的建议主要基于专家意见，其证据基础有限，仅包括在一次考试中获得的小样本数据，且没有经过同行评审。与 CR2B 考试不同，关于 CR1 和 CR2 考试的评估几乎没有证据。CR1 和 CR2 考试目前都在经历格式的重大变化。将项目蓝图到课程中可能会提高可接受性。其他更改可能会提高这些评估的透明度和可靠性。我们的分析和外部审查的许多方面可能会为即将进行的“自动化”FRCR 考试产生的数据提供进一步分析的方向，以提供更可靠的评估。
