Meaningful use of COMSAE Phase 1 in preparation for COMLEX-USA Level 1.

Context: The Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States (COMLEX-USA) is a three level national standardized licensure examination for the practice of osteopathic medicine. The Comprehensive Medical Self Assessment Examination (COMSAE) is a three phase self assessment tool designed to gauge the base knowledge and ability of candidates preparing for COMLEX-USA.

Objectives: To investigate how COMSAE Phase 1 (Phase 1) was used by candidates and how completing Phase 1 impacted their performance on the COMLEX-USA Level 1 (Level 1) examination.

Investigation of standardized patient ratings of humanistic competence on a medical licensure examination using Many-Facet Rasch Measurement and generalizability theory.

Humanistic doctor-patient interaction has been measured for eight years using the Global Patient Assessment (GPA) tool in the national osteopathic clinical skills medical licensure examination. Standardized patients (SPs) apply the GPA tool to rate examinees' competence on doctor-patient communication, interpersonal skills, and professionalism. Many-Facet Rasch Measurement was employed to evaluate the overall functioning of the GPA rating scale and to estimate measurement errors associated with characteristics of SP raters and medical case presentations.

Pass/fail patterns of candidates who failed COMLEX-USA level 2-PE because of misrepresentation of clinical findings on postencounter notes.

Context: In 2007, The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) instituted a policy to address the accuracy and integrity of postencounter written documentation recorded during the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination Level 2-Performance Evaluation (COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE). This policy was instituted not only to protect the integrity of the examination, but also to highlight that overdocumentation of clinical findings not obtained during patient encounters may jeopardize patient safety.

Objective: To investigate overall and domain pass/fail patterns of candidates who misrepresented clinical findings with regard to past and subsequent performance on COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE.

Competency-based classification of COMLEX-USA cognitive examination test items.

Context: The Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA (COMLEX-USA) currently assesses osteopathic medical knowledge via a series of 3 progressive cognitive examinations and 1 clinical skills assessment. In 2009, the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners created the Fundamental Osteopathic Medical Competencies (FOMC) document to outline the essential competencies required for the practice of osteopathic medicine.

Objectives: To measure the distribution and extent to which cognitive examination items of the current series of COMLEX-USA assess knowledge of each of the medical competencies included in the FOMC document.

An investigation of construct validity of humanistic clinical skills on a medical licensure examination.

Objective: To test construct validity of humanistic clinical skills measured by a medical licensure performance examination using multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis.

Methods: Two hundred and twenty-seven third- and fourth-year undergraduate osteopathic medical students in 2007-2008 were randomly sampled. The Global Patient Assessment Tool (GPAT), designed to assess professionalism, interpersonal relationship, and doctor-patient communication was tested under two measurement methods: standard examination ratings and peer performance ratings of the same examinee.

Using standardized patients to assess the communication skills of graduating physicians for the comprehensive osteopathic medical licensing examination (COMLEX) level 2-performance evaluation (level 2-PE).

Background: Standardized patients can be trained to assess the communication and interpersonal skills of medical students and graduates.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to present data to support the psychometric adequacy of the communication ratings provided by standardized patients.

Methods: Using the data from testing of 3, 450 examinees over a 1-year period, a number of psychometric analyses were undertaken.

Five-year summary of COMLEX-USA level 2-PE examinee performance and survey data.

The authors present data on examination format and examinee demographics, performance, and survey results for the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA Level 2-Performance Evaluation (COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE) from the first five testing cycles (2004-2005 to 2008-2009). First-time examinees in the 2004-2005 testing cycle had a pass rate of 96.1%, compared with a pass rate of 94.

Patient note fabrication and consequences of unprofessional behavior in a high-stakes clinical skills licensing examination.

Background: The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) administers the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination USA Level 2-PE (COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE) and has developed a process that links the competencies of written communication and professionalism by tracking fabrication in the postencounter SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) note exercise.

Method: A process used to identify potential SOAP note fabrication was implemented in the 2007-2008 test cycle for the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE.

Results: A total of 3,753 candidates took the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE in the 2007-2008 test cycle.

Standardized patients and mechanical simulators in teaching and assessment at colleges of osteopathic medicine.

Context: A 2001 survey of 19 colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) revealed that standardized patient programs (SPPs) are increasingly used in osteopathic medical education. However, no new data have been published since.

Objectives: To evaluate current SPP and mechanical simulator use at COMs compared with previous survey results.