Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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The level of expertise possessed by medical school faculty members is unprecedented. Unfortunately, faculty members' broad understanding of their domains has atrophied as the specialization they need to compete successfully in the clinical and research arenas has increased. Medical students are novices, needing teachers who possess broad knowledge and experience, who can integrate the specific areas of a subject with overarching themes, and who can teach at the students' level. ⋯ Likewise, busy clinical preceptors may no longer have the latest understanding of pathophysiology. The usual solution of bringing a series of basic science and clinical faculty members to classrooms and seminar rooms often results in disjointed coverage of material. Expanding the values of the university to once again include the scholarship of integration and teaching would provide the best type of faculty.
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Comparative Study
Does feedback on examination performance help directors of internal medicine residencies evaluate the medical knowledge of their residents against national norms?
As part of the admission process to the American Board of Internal Medicine's certifying examination in internal medicine, training program directors evaluate residents in several components of clinical competence, including medical knowledge. Research suggested that these ratings had different meanings across programs. A report comparing certifying examination performance and ratings of medical knowledge at the program and national levels was developed and sent to program directors after the 1988 through 1992 examinations. The present study investigated whether feedback helped program directors identify where their residents ranked nationally. ⋯ Since equated scores are directly comparable, declining mean scores but unchanged mean ratings suggest that the standards applied by program directors drifted downward. The increasing correlations suggest that program directors improved in their abilities to evaluate residents relative to a common standard. It is not clear what effect the feedback had on program directors' evaluations. It is encouraging, however, to see a higher level of agreement among program directors on the meaning of the ratings.