Antonio Sabrina, Kracaw Rachel A, Dizon Wynona, Simanton Edward
Medical Education, Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, USA.
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Office of Medical Education, Las Vegas, USA.
Cureus. 2022 Jul 5;14(7):e26599. doi: 10.7759/cureus.26599. eCollection 2022 Jul.
Graduate medical education program directors report that United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 CK exam scores will likely have greater importance in the future selection of residents due to USMLE Step 1 transitioning to a pass/fail score as early as January 2022. With emphasis moving to the Step 2 exam, it is important to examine factors that maximize student Step 2 CK performance, such as third-year curriculum models and exam timing. This study analyzes whether or not Step 2 performance is affected by a specific length of dedicated study time within a Longitudinal Interleaved Clerkship (LInC) curriculum.
A regression model was used to predict Step 2 scores for 102 students using previous performance measures. Actual and predicted scores were compared to indicate which students overperformed or underperformed on Step 2. A t-test was used to compare the mean difference between predicted and actual performance of students who had two weeks or less of dedicated study time for Step 2 CK versus students who had a longer dedicated study period. Results: Students who completed Step 2 with two weeks or less of dedicated study significantly overperformed ((100)=2.06, =0.042) on the exam (Mean=1.61, SD=9.21) compared to students who had more than two weeks of dedicated study (Mean=-1.67, SD=6.44) in a LInC curriculum.
Although studies of Step 2 preparation time have shown the importance of taking Step 2 soon after completion of clinical rotations, this study adds a specific timeframe. Our findings show that a dedicated study period of two weeks or less for Step 2 CK within a LInC curriculum is associated with better performance. This study was limited to a LInC curriculum and may not apply to other clinical year curricula.
研究生医学教育项目主任报告称，由于美国医师执照考试（USMLE）第一步最早于2022年1月转变为通过/未通过分数，USMLE第二步临床知识（CK）考试成绩在未来住院医师选拔中可能会变得更加重要。随着重点转向第二步考试，研究那些能使学生在第二步CK考试中取得最佳成绩的因素很重要，比如三年级课程模式和考试时间安排。本研究分析了在纵向交错式实习（LInC）课程中，第二步考试成绩是否会受到特定时长的专门学习时间的影响。
使用回归模型，根据之前的成绩指标预测102名学生的第二步考试成绩。将实际成绩与预测成绩进行比较，以表明哪些学生在第二步考试中表现超常或未达预期。使用t检验来比较第二步CK专门学习时间为两周或更短的学生与专门学习时间更长的学生在预测成绩和实际成绩之间的平均差异。结果：在LInC课程中，专门学习时间为两周或更短的学生在第二步考试中的表现（平均值 = 1.61，标准差 = 9.21）显著优于专门学习时间超过两周的学生（平均值 = -1.67，标准差 = 6.44）（t(100) = 2.06，p = 0.042）。
尽管关于第二步考试准备时间的研究表明在临床轮转结束后尽快参加第二步考试很重要，但本研究增加了一个具体的时间框架。我们的研究结果表明，在LInC课程中，第二步CK的专门学习时间为两周或更短与更好的考试表现相关。本研究仅限于LInC课程，可能不适用于其他临床年级课程。
