Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31046744›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2019

Barriers and facilitators to writing quality items for medical school assessments - a scoping review.

Sowmiya Karthikeyan, Elizabeth O'Connor, Wendy Hu

Abstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical education, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

21 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sowmiya KarthikeyanSchool of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Ainsworth Bldg, Goldsmith Ave, Campbelltown, NSW, 2560, Australia.
Elizabeth O'ConnorSchool of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Ainsworth Bldg, Goldsmith Ave, Campbelltown, NSW, 2560, Australia. E.Oconnor@westernsydney.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1905-9419
Wendy HuSchool of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Ainsworth Bldg, Goldsmith Ave, Campbelltown, NSW, 2560, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundProducing a sufficient quantity of quality items for use in medical school examinations is a continuing challenge in medical education. We conducted this scoping review to identify barriers and facilitators to writing good quality items and note gaps in the literature that are yet to be addressed.

methodsWe conducted searches of three databases (ERIC, Medline and Scopus) as well as Google Scholar for empirical studies on the barriers and facilitators for writing good quality items for medical school examinations.

resultsThe initial search yielded 1997 articles. After applying pre-determined criteria, 13 articles were selected for the scoping review. Included studies could be broadly categorised into studies that attempted to directly investigate the barriers and facilitators and studies that provided implicit evidence. Key findings were that faculty development and quality assurance were facilitators of good quality item writing while barriers at both an individual and institutional level include motivation, time constraints and scheduling.

conclusionsAlthough studies identified factors that may improve or negatively impact on the quality of items written by faculty and clinicians, there was limited research investigating the barriers and facilitators for individual item writers. Investigating these challenges could lead to more targeted and effective interventions to improve both the quality and quantity of assessment items.

Indexed as

Schools, MedicalClinical ClerkshipCurriculumEducational MeasurementEducation, Medical, UndergraduateHumansProgram EvaluationWritingAssessmentFaculty developmentItem writingQuality assuranceWritten examination

Identifiers

PMID31046744
PMCPMC6498649

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.