Correlation of the NBME advanced clinical examination in EM and the national EM M4 exams.

Correlation of the NBME advanced clinical examination in EM and the national EM M4 exams.

Hiller Katherine; Miller Emily S; Lawson Luan; Wald David; Beeson Michael; Heitz Corey; Morrissey Thomas; House Joseph; Poznanski Stacey

The western journal of emergency medicine

2015

2015-01

INTRODUCTION: Since 2011 two online, validated exams for fourth-year emergency medicine (EM) students have been available (National EM M4 Exams). In 2013 the National Board of Medical Examiners offered the Advanced Clinical Examination in Emergency Medicine (EM-ACE). All of these exams are now in widespread use; however, there are no data on how they correlate. This study evaluated the correlation between the EM-ACE exam and the National EM M4 Exams. METHODS: From May 2013 to April 2014 the EM-ACE and one version of the EM M4 exam were administered sequentially to fourth-year EM students at five U.S. medical schools. Data collected included institution, gross and scaled scores and version of the EM M4 exam. We performed Pearson's correlation and random effects linear regression. RESULTS: 305 students took the EM-ACE and versions 1 (V1) or 2 (V2) of the EM M4 exams (281 and 24, respectively) [corrected].The mean percent correct for the exams were as follows: EM-ACE 74.9 (SD-9.82), V1 83.0 (SD-6.39), V2 78.5 (SD-7.70) [corrected]. Pearson's correlation coefficient for the V1/EM-ACE was 0.53 (0.43 scaled) and for the V2/EM-ACE was 0.58 (0.41 scaled) [corrected]. The coefficient of determination for V1/ EM-ACE was 0.73 and for V2/EM-ACE 0.71 (0.65 and .49 for scaled scores) [ERRATUM]. The R-squared values were 0.28 and 0.30 (0.18 and 0.13 scaled), respectively [corrected]. There was significant cluster effect by institution. CONCLUSION: There was moderate positive correlation of student scores on the EM-ACE exam and the National EM M4 Exams.

Humans; United States; Prospective Studies; Linear Models; Emergency Medicine/*education; Clinical Competence; Educational Measurement/*methods; *Clinical Clerkship; Human; Descriptive Statistics; Multicenter Studies; Data Analysis Software; Academic Performance; Undergraduate; Medical; *Education; Linear Regression; Emergency Care – Education

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