Clinical Skills Curriculum Overview:  in development

Year I

• Medical Interviewing

• Patient Encounter

• Dynamics__Faculty

• Dynamics__Student defined

• Write-ups

• Physical Exams
     __CV (2)
     __Pulm
     __Opth
     __GI

• Dynamics

• Write-ups

• Presentation

Year II

Physical Exam
               __Neuro
               __MS
               __HEENT
               __GI

• Dynamics

• Presentations

• Poss. one Mental Status

• Write-Ups

• Physical Exams (complete)

• Male G/U Sessions

• Write-ups

• Presentation

• Clinical Procedures

• Psych preceptorships with Sara (to include didatic and psych interviews)

Year III

• Physical Exams (complete)

• Gyn Sessions

• Dynamics

• Write-ups

• Presentaiton

• Clinical Procedures

• Poss. psych preceptorships

• Presentations

Information about the NBME OSCE ExamIII

The information contained in (1) below was reviewed and approved by NBME President Donald Melnick. 

1. Clinical Skills Examination (CSE)

The tentative date for implementation of the CSE is June 2004 for members of the 2005 graduating class.

The CSE will produce three component scores: an Integrated Clinical Encounter (based on the checklist from the standardized patients and global ratings of the encounter note), an assessment of Communication skills, and an assessment of English Language skills.

All three components of the CSE must be passed in order to achieve a passing score on the CSE. A failure in any one component will result in a failing score on the CSE.

In order to be eligible to sit for USMLE Step 3, an examinee must have passed USMLE Step 1 and both the Clinical Knowledge and Clinical Skills components of USMLE Step 2.

Schools that currently require students to take and/or pass Step 2 for graduation are, by definition, thus requiring their graduating students to take and/or pass the CSE for graduation since an overall passing score on Step 2 can be achieved only after passing both Step 2 components. Score reports and transcripts will provide pass/fail information regarding each component and the scaled score for the knowledge component.

Since eligibility for USMLE Step 3 will require that graduates in 2005 or later have previously achieved passing scores on Step 1 and both components of Step 2, your state medical licensing authority does not have an option to make licensure decisions using only the previous components of USMLE.  Any state medical licensing board not requiring applicants for licensure to pass the CSE would need to provide its own examination for licensure purposes, since USMLE Step 3 will not be available to those examinees without passing performance on the Step 2 Clinical Skills component.

2. Inclusion of Licensure Exam Costs in Schools’ “Cost of Attendance” Figures

In response to inquiries about medical schools’ adding the costs of licensing examinations required as a part of the educational program to students’ educational budgets paid for with federal financial aid dollars, the US Department of Education reported, in an e-mail dated May 27, 2003, that, “after clearing our response with our colleagues in the Department's Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), we have determined that costs associated with tests THAT ARE A REQUIRED PART OF THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM can be included in a student's cost of attendance (COA). We expect to provide this guidance to the entire community shortly.”