USMLE Step 1 During COVID-19: A Fog of Uncertainty

Marcus Wiggins Puneet Kaur Pranav Puri By PRANAV PURI, PUNEET KAUR, and MARCUS WIGGINS, MBA As current medical students, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic represents the most significant healthcare crisis of our lifetimes. COVID-19 has upended nearly every element of healthcare in the United States, including medical education. The pandemic has exposed shortcomings in healthcare delivery ranging from the care of nursing home residents to the lack of interoperable health data. However, the pandemic has also exposed shortcomings in the residency match process. Consider the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1. A 2018 survey of residency program directors cited USMLE Step 1 scores as the most important factor in selecting candidates to interview. Moreover, program directors frequently apply numerical Step 1 score cutoffs to screen applicants for interviews. As such, there are marked variations in mean Step 1 scores across clinical specialties. For example, in 2018, US medical graduates who matched into neurosurgery had a mean Step 1 scores of 245, while those matching into neurology had a mean Step 1 score of 231. One would assume that, at a minimum, Step 1 scores are a standardized, objective measure to statistically distinguish applicants. Unfortunately, this does not hold true. In its score interpretation guidelines, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) provides Step 1’s standard error of difference (SED) as an index to determin...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: COVID-19 Medical Education Medical Practice Marcus Wiggins Pranav Puri Puneet Kaur Step 1 USMLE USMLE Pass/Fail USMLE Step 1 Source Type: blogs