The need for national medical licensing examination in Saudi Arabia

Bajammal, Sohail; Zaini, Rania; Abuznadah, Wesam; Al-Rukban, Mohammad; Aly, Syed Moyn; Boker, Abdulaziz; Al‐Zalabani, Abdulmohsen H.; Al-Omran, Mohammad; Al‐Habib, Amro; AlSheikh, Mona Hmoud; Alsultan, Mohammad; Fida, Nadia; Alzahrani, Khalid; Hamad, Bashir; Shehri, Mohammad Al; Abdulrahman, Khalid A. Bin; Al-Damegh, Saleh A.; Al-Nozha, Mansour M.; Donnon, Tyrone

doi:10.1186/1472-6920-8-53

Cited by 31 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is little doubt that while educational assessment and theory evolves at a rapid pace, most specialists regard the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) and the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) as world-leading examples (Bajammal et al 2008;Lillis et al 2012;Norcini et al 2014). This claim is supported by good empirical evidence (Stewart et al 2005;Hecker & Violato 2008; Committee to Evaluate the USMLE Program 2008; Margolis et al 2010;Lillis et al 2012;Guttormsen et al 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We discovered a distinct North American/European divide in the arguments in the literature. North America has the well established USMLE and MCCQE (Bajammal et al 2008;Lillis et al 2012;Norcini et al 2014), with the literature focusing on the psychometric/measurement aspects of the examinations (Stewart et al 2005;Hecker & Violato 2008;CEUP 2008;Margolis et al 2010;Lillis et al 2012;Guttormsen et al 2013). In Europe, it is more commonly argued that the challenges and practicalities of introducing an equivalence within or across European boundaries would be considerable (Harden 2009), despite imperatives that ensure citizens are able to freely move and work (de Vries et al 2009).…”

Section: Transatlantic Dividementioning

confidence: 99%

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The medical licensing examination debate

Archer

Lynn

Coombes

et al. 2016

Regulation & Governance

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National licensing examinations are typically large-scale examinations taken early in a career or near the point of graduation, and, importantly, success is required to subsequently be able to practice. They are becoming increasingly popular as a method of quality assurance in the medical workforce, but debate about their contribution to patient safety and the improvement of healthcare outcomes continues. A systematic review of the national licensing examination literature demonstrates that there is disagreement between assessment experts about the strengths and challenges of licensing examinations. This is characterized by a trans-Atlantic divide between the dominance of psychometric reliability assurance in North America and the wider interpretations of validity, to include consequences, in Europe. We conclude that the debate might benefit from refocusing to what a national licensing examination should assess: to achieve a balance between assessing a breadth of skills and the capacity for such skills in practice, and focusing less on reproducibility.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transatlantic Dividementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The medical licensing examination debate

Archer

Lynn

Coombes

et al. 2016

Regulation & Governance

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“…For example, using findings from assessment research as well as careful analysis of the US medical education context, Hanson and colleagues wrote a powerful plea for replacing numbers (grades) with words (narratives) to enable the achievement of education and assessment goals . Similarly, assessment experts argue that different information management strategies are to be used depending on assessment purposes and rationale, that we should refrain from grading if we use assessment for formative purposes, that we should focus on standardised assessments and criteria‐based grading in the assessment of learning in order to ensure that our graduates are equivalent and fit for practice, and that we should favour qualitative over quantitative assessment approaches if we want to capture professional competence . Proposed solutions then typically include measures to ‘overcome’ barriers to the successful implementation of the assessment ideal or to provide arguments to illustrate the fallibility of others’ views and thinking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing tensions in assessment: moving beyond either–or thinking

2018

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Context In health professions education, assessment systems are bound to be rife with tensions as they must fulfil formative and summative assessment purposes, be efficient and effective, and meet the needs of learners and education institutes, as well as those of patients and health care organisations. The way we respond to these tensions determines the fate of assessment practices and reform. In this study, we argue that traditional ‘fix‐the‐problem’ approaches (i.e. either–or solutions) are generally inadequate and that we need alternative strategies to help us further understand, accept and actually engage with the multiple recurring tensions in assessment programmes. Methods Drawing from research in organisation science and health care, we outline how the Polarity Thinking™ model and its ‘both–and’ approach offer ways to systematically leverage assessment tensions as opportunities to drive improvement, rather than as intractable problems. In reviewing the assessment literature, we highlight and discuss exemplars of specific assessment polarities and tensions in educational settings. Using key concepts and principles of the Polarity Thinking™ model, and two examples of common tensions in assessment design, we describe how the model can be applied in a stepwise approach to the management of key polarities in assessment. Discussion Assessment polarities and tensions are likely to surface with the continued rise of complexity and change in education and health care organisations. With increasing pressures of accountability in times of stretched resources, assessment tensions and dilemmas will become more pronounced. We propose to add to our repertoire of strategies for managing key dilemmas in education and assessment design through the adoption of the polarity framework. Its ‘both–and’ approach may advance our efforts to transform assessment systems to meet complex 21st century education, health and health care needs.

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“…The first was opened in 1969 and many others in the past 3-5 years. In 1995, the number of Saudi medical students was 3363, however, this number has witness tremendous increased in -2008(Bajammal et al 2008). Second, although there is a quite large number of full-time Saudi faculty members, majority of them do not have special degree or training in medical education before joining their academic services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%