Associations between item characteristics and statistical performance for paediatric medical student multiple choice assessments.

Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are commonly used in medical student assessments but often prepared by clinicians without formal education qualifications. This study aimed to inform the question writing process by investigating the association between MCQ characteristics and commonly used statistical measures of individual item quality for a paediatric medical term. Item characteristics and statistics for five consecutive annual barrier paediatric medical student assessments (each n=60 items) were examined retrospectively.

Evaluation of the Prescribing Skills Assessment implementation, performance and medical student experience in Australia and New Zealand.

Aims: The UK Prescribing Safety Assessment was modified for use in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) as the Prescribing Skills Assessment (PSA). We investigated the implementation, student performance and acceptability of the ANZ PSA for final-year medical students.

Methods: This study used a mixed-method approach involving student data (n = 6440) for 2017-2019 (PSA overall score and 8 domain subscores).

Student perspectives on programmatic assessment in a large medical programme: A critical realist analysis.

Background: Fundamental challenges exist in researching complex changes of assessment practice from traditional objective-focused 'assessments of learning' towards programmatic 'assessment for learning'. The latter emphasise both the subjective and social in collective judgements of student progress. Our context was a purposively designed programmatic assessment system implemented in the first year of a new graduate entry curriculum.

Senior medical students as assistants in medicine in COVID-19 crisis: a realist evaluation protocol.

Introduction: The assistant in medicine is a new and paid role for final-year medical students that has been established in New South Wales, Australia, as part of the surge workforce management response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligibility requires the applicant to be a final-year medical student in an Australian Medical Council-accredited university and registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. While there are roles with some similarities to the assistant in medicine role, such as assistantships (the UK) and physician assistants adopted internationally, this is completely new in Australia.

MRI-guided percutaneous sclerotherapy of venous malformations: initial clinical experience using a 3T MRI system.

Purpose: Venous malformations (VMs) are low-flow vascular anomalies that are commonly treated with image-guided percutaneous sclerotherapy. Although many VMs can be safely accessed and treated using ultrasonography and fluoroscopy, some lesions may be better treated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided sclerotherapy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility, efficiency, and outcomes of MRI-guided sclerotherapy of VMs using a 3T MRI system.