Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Specialties
First wave Dermatology Gastroenterology Geriatric Medicine Neurology Second wave Acute medicine Cardiology CPT Endocrinology/diabetes ID Medical oncology Renal medicine Respiratory medicine Rheumatology
late 2006: MRCP(UK)/Federation of Medical Royal Colleges proposed partnership with specialist societies
early 2007: Appointment of Examination Board Chairs & Secretaries June 2008: First wave examinations November 2008: Second wave examinations
Timeline: Nephrology
March 2007 Appointment of Chair (J Fox) & Secretary (J Levy) March 2007 advertisement for QWG members (41 responses, 5 not requiring training) 18 July 2007: first training day 24 attended 5 Sept 2007: second training day 11 attended 8-9 Jan 2008: Question Writing Group meeting 26 attended, approx. 333 questions produced 3-4 June 2008: Board meeting Aug/Sept 2008: Standard Setting Group meeting November 2008: KBA
A 34-year-old woman was referred for the investigation of bloody diarrhoea. She was opening her bowels four times daily. On examination, she was well. Her pulse was 64 beats per minute and her abdomen was soft and non-tender. Colonoscopy revealed an active colitis, limited to the sigmoid colon. Biopsies confirmed a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. Investigations:
haemoglobin white cell count platelet count serum albumin serum C-reactive protein
132 g/L (115 - 165) 11.5 x 109/L (4 - 11) 323 x 109/L (150 - 400) 40 g/L (37 - 49) 13 mg/L (<10)
What is the most appropriate initial treatment? A mesalazine enemas B oral azathioprine C oral mesalazine D oral modified-release budesonide E oral prednisolone Answer Key: A
To generate one re-usable question for MRCP(UK) requires 3-5 questions to be drafted
Examination Board
Examination
Board
Roles: To set papers for each examination To oversee delivery of examinations To be responsible for academic matters, misconduct, complaints, regulatory matters Composition: 10 members incl. chairman & secretary 2 represent SAC 4 from the Question Writing Group 4 non-writing members Meets for 2 days a year
Membership: 6 members incl. Board Chair & Secretary No-one else should belong to both QWG & Board Chair should have experience of standard setting
Meets for 2 days a year
Format used since 2002: Part 1: 3 diets of 2 papers (200 Qs) per year Part 2: 3 diets of 3 papers (~270 Qs) per year Medical experience: SQG, Board, Standard Setting
Statistical & psychometric support Administration: non-medical editors, organisation of meetings, etc IT: question bank & CBT
Pass rate
Proposed:
Challenges
Heavy workload for a relatively small specialty
Small number of candidates (cf 1245 candidates for MRCP Part 2, 2007/2) will make pass mark setting, reliability assessment and pre-testing of questions difficult Name (MRCPUK(Nephrology)) Cost to candidates/affordability to RA
Links
http://www.jrcptb.org.uk/assessment/Pages/MRCP(UK)KnowledgeB asedAssessment.aspx http://www.jrcptb.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/KBA%20Project% 20Final%20Report.pdf www.pmetb.org.uk/fileadmin/user/QA/Assessment/Assessment_go od_practice_v0207.pdf http://www.mrcpuk.org/Pages/Home.aspx