The feasibility of using an American National Board examination for the evaluation of Swiss candidates for licensure

Abstract

Summary A test in Internal Medicine of the American National Board of Medical Examiners was given to Swiss medical students as a graduating examination. This study dealing with the feasibility of such an enterprise describes the technical procedures and investigates the problems of translation and the validity of foreign made items. Comparison of item analyses for the 369 Swiss candidates and for a sample of 370 American candidates reveals that most items are of close comparability in difficulty, discrimination and pattern of response to the distractors. In a cross‐national comparison of students’ responses to the items no systematic content characteristics can be found for items favouring one group or the other. Swiss experts, in judging the validity of the items for testing Swiss students, could indeed identify in advance some of the items that proved to be less valid and more difficult for their—but also the American—students. It is concluded that a National Board examination can be as valid and suited to examine Swiss candidates for licensure as it is to examine American candidates.

Development of Emergency Medicine in Europe

“…Given the difficulties in harmonizing the overall structure of medical education, it is not surprising that at the undergraduate (medical school) level, EM is a mandatory subject in only 16 EU countries . There is no current standardized medical school exit examination, but the United Kingdom is exploring using the USMLE as an exit examination, as is Switzerland and the Netherlands . Italy has its own standard exit examination …”