ArticleSurgery2022
Standardized oral examinations allow for assessment of medical student clinical knowledge and decrease racial grading differences in a surgery clerkship.
Article in Surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fairness as an Ethical Imperative in Dental Assessment: German Students' Perspectives on Oral Examinations and Structured Assessment Formats.Dentistry journal · 2026Article
- Assessment of clinical pharmacology and competence during medicine clerkships.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Review
- Article
- Development and Evaluation of an Artificial Intelligence-Powered Surgical Oral Examination Simulator: A Pilot Study.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2025Article
- Intersectional Bias and Coded Language in Emergency-Medicine Evaluations: A Response to Gonzalez et al.AEM education and training · 2025Article
- Medical student perceptions of assessments of clinical reasoning in a general surgery clerkship.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Promoting medical student's clinical reasoning during COVID-19 pandemic.Korean journal of medical education · 2023Article
- Measuring what matters: identifying assessments that reflect learning on the core surgical clerkship.Global surgical education : journal of the Association for Surgical Education · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on byDiscussion.2022
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOral examinations are not consistently included in third-year medical student clerkships. When included, they are often unstructured, leaving room for variations in difficulty or scoring. Previous research has demonstrated differences in clinical grade achievement, with underrepresented in medicine students receiving significantly lower grades than White students.
methodsWe designed a structured oral examination for third-year medical students on the surgery clerkship. Students completed 2 oral examination scenarios and were evaluated on their ability to complete a history and diagnostic workup, interpret laboratory and imaging results, and devise a treatment plan. Scores from our examination were compared to previous, unstructured oral examination scores and to student demographics. Students and faculty were surveyed regarding their experience.
resultsThird-year medical students demonstrated strong knowledge of multiple surgical diseases. The greatest number of errors occurred in treatment planning (P < .001). Third-year medical students receiving honors clerkship grades achieved higher percentages of correct items on their oral examination. (94.8% vs 90.4%) (P = .02). Evaluation of prior unstructured oral examinations found underrepresented in medicine students received lower scores than White students (P = .04). After implementation of our structured examination, no difference was seen between the scores of underrepresented in medicine and White students (P = .99).
conclusionWe implemented a standardized oral examination for third-year medical students on the surgery clerkship with student and faculty satisfaction and demonstrated the ability to determine domains of knowledge weakness. The application of our structured oral examination helped to address nonspecific grading practices and eliminate oral examination grade differences between underrepresented in medicine and White students.
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