Exploring the role of open book high-stakes examinations in 2021 and beyond
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.73897Abstract
Performance on medical licensing examinations has been previously shown to be predictive of performance in practice. However, licensing examinations are closed-book and real-world medical practice increasingly requires doctors and patients to consult resources to make evidence-informed decisions. To best assess the ability of physicians and physicians-in-practice to avail themselves of point-of-care clinical resources and tools, open-book components may have an emerging role in high-stakes examinations.
References
Tamblyn R, Abrahamowicz M, Brailovsky C, et al. Association between licensing examination scores and resource use and quality of care in primary care practice. JAMA. 1998;280(11):989-96. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.280.11.989.
De Champlain AF, Ashworth N, Kain N, Qin S, Wiebe D, Tian F. Does pass/fail on medical licensing exams predict future physician performance in practice? a longitudinal cohort study of Alberta physicians. J Med Reg. 2021;106(4):17-26. https://doi.org/10.30770/2572-1852-106.4.17.
Wenghofer E, Klass D, Abrahamowicz M, et al. Doctor scores on national qualifying examinations predict quality of care in future practice. Med Educ. 2009;43(12):1166-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2009.03534.x.
Baker GR, Norton PG, Flintoft V, et al. The Canadian Adverse Events Study: the incidence of adverse events among hospital patients in Canada. CMAJ. 2004;170(11):1678-86. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1040498.
Densen P. Challenges and opportunities facing medical education. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2011;122:48-58.
Aakre CA, Pencille LJ, Sorensen KJ, et al. Electronic knowledge resources and point-of-care learning: a scoping review. Acad Med. 2018;93(11S):S60-S7. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002375.
Schwartz KL, Roe T, Northrup J, Meza J, Seifeldin R, Neale AV. Family medicine patients’ use of the internet for health information: a MetroNet study. JABFM. 2006;19(1):39-45. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.19.1.39.
Huang GJ, Penson DF. Internet health resources and the cancer patient. Cancer invest. 2008;26(2):202-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/07357900701566197.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. CanMEDS Framework. 2015. Available at https://www.royalcollege.ca/rcsite/canmeds/canmeds-framework-e [Accessed on April 20, 2022].
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. History Of CanMEDS. 2022. Available at https://www.royalcollege.ca/rcsite/canmeds/about/history-canmeds-e. [Accessed on April 20, 2022].
Medical Council of Canada. Examination objectives overview. 2022. Available at https://mcc.ca/objectives/ [Accessed on April 20, 2022].
Tim Hortons. Tim Hortons Nutrition Guide. Jan 2022. Available at https://cdn.sanity.io/files/czqk28jt/staging_th_ca/82529bea7aa2f018b8a793c1d71c115ca10af930.pdf. [Accessed on April 20, 2022].
MD Calc. Framingham Risk Score for Hard Coronary Heart Disease. https://www.mdcalc.com/framingham-risk-score-hard-coronary-heart-disease. [Accessed on April 20, 2022].
Durning SJ, Dong T, Ratcliffe T, et al. Comparing open-book and closed-book examinations: a systematic review. Acad Med. 2016;91(4):583-99. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000977.
Sam AH, Reid MD, Amin A. High‐stakes, remote‐access, open‐book examinations. Med Educ. 2020;54(8):767-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14247.
Jervis CG, Brown LR. The prospects of sitting 'end of year' open book exams in the light of COVID-19: A medical student's perspective. Med Teach. 2020;42(7):830-1. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2020.1766668.
Zagury-Orly I, Durning SJ. Assessing open-book examination in medical education: The time is now. Med Teach. 2020:1-2. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2020.1811214.
Norcini J, Anderson M, Bollela V, et al. Criteria for good assessment: consensus statement and recommendations from the Ottawa 2010 conference. Med Teach. 2011;33:206-14. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2011.551559.
Schuwirth LWT, Van Der Vleuten CPM. Changing education, changing assessment, changing research? Med Educ. 2004;38(8):805-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2004.01851.x.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Beth-Ann Cummings
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Submission of an original manuscript to the Canadian Medical Education Journal will be taken to mean that it represents original work not previously published, that it is not being considered elsewhere for publication. If accepted for publication, it will be published online and it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, for commercial purposes, in any language, without the consent of the publisher.
Authors who publish in the Canadian Medical Education Journal agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 Canada Licence. This licence allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given. For details of the rights an author grants users of their work, please see the licence summary and the full licence.
