A Multiple Choice Testing Program Coupled with a Year-long Elective Experience is Associated with Improved Performance on the Internal Medicine In-Training Examination

Background The Internal Medicine In-Training Exam (IM-ITE) assesses the content knowledge of internal medicine trainees. Many programs use the IM-ITE to counsel residents, to create individual remediation plans, and to make fundamental programmatic and curricular modifications. Objective To assess t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of general internal medicine : JGIM 2011-11, Vol.26 (11), p.1253-1257
Main Authors: Mathis, Bradley R., Warm, Eric J., Schauer, Daniel P., Holmboe, Eric, Rouan, Gregory W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical Competence
Female
General aspects
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Internal Medicine
Internal Medicine - education
Internal Medicine - statistics & numerical data
Internship and Residency - statistics & numerical data
Male
Medical sciences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Ohio
Original Research
Prevention and actions
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Retrospective Studies
Self-Assessment
Statistics as Topic
Tests
Time Factors
Training
United States
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Summary:Background The Internal Medicine In-Training Exam (IM-ITE) assesses the content knowledge of internal medicine trainees. Many programs use the IM-ITE to counsel residents, to create individual remediation plans, and to make fundamental programmatic and curricular modifications. Objective To assess the association between a multiple-choice testing program administered during 12 consecutive months of ambulatory and inpatient elective experience and IM-ITE percentile scores in third post-graduate year (PGY-3) categorical residents. Design Retrospective cohort study. Participants One hundred and four categorical internal medicine residents. Forty-five residents in the 2008 and 2009 classes participated in the study group, and the 59 residents in the three classes that preceded the use of the testing program, 2005–2007, served as controls. Intervention A comprehensive, elective rotation specific, multiple-choice testing program and a separate board review program, both administered during a continuous long-block elective experience during the twelve months between the second post-graduate year (PGY-2) and PGY-3 in-training examinations. Measures We analyzed the change in median individual percent correct and percentile scores between the PGY-1 and PGY-2 IM-ITE and between the PGY-2 and PGY-3 IM-ITE in both control and study cohorts. For our main outcome measure, we compared the change in median individual percentile rank between the control and study cohorts between the PGY-2 and the PGY-3 IM-ITE testing opportunities. Results After experiencing the educational intervention, the study group demonstrated a significant increase in median individual IM-ITE percentile score between PGY-2 and PGY-3 examinations of 8.5 percentile points (p 
ISSN:0884-8734
1525-1497
DOI:10.1007/s11606-011-1696-7