Communication Skills Mentoring Program

Communication Skills in the News

Source: AAOS Headline News

Date: June 20, 2002

New medical licensing exam to test students on communicating

Final testing has begun for a component of the United States Medical Licensing Exam that for the first time in 40 years will require students to demonstrate the clinical skills necessary to gather information from patients, perform a physical examination and communicate their findings to patients and colleagues before they receive a medical license. The one-day test involves one-on-one personal encounters in a clinical setting. Students will examine 10 to 12 "standardized patients," lay persons carefully trained to act like real patients in a doctor's office or a clinic, for about 15 minutes each. After each examination, students have 10 minutes to record pertinent history and physical examination findings, list diagnostic impressions and outline any plans for further evaluation. The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), one of two organizations based in Philadelphia that oversee the licensing exam, has spent the past 15 years using rigorous scientific methods to devise a new reliable and objective exam. The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, (ECFMG) has employed a similar clinical skills examination in the certification of graduates of international medical schools since 1998. The NBME and ECFMG are collaborating in development of the clinical skills examination. In the first phase of this pilot, students from the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University and Temple University are undertaking the skills assessment at a center in Philadelphia. A second phase, starting in September, will involve medical students from Emory School of Medicine and Morehouse School Medicine. If this phase goes as planned, the skills assessment will be required for medical students in the class of 2005 and will continue to be a requirement of the ECFMG.

Source: NBME news release June 20, 2002

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