Relationship between candidate communication ability and oral certification examination scores

Area of Science:

• Medical Education Research
• Assessment and Evaluation
• Communication in Healthcare

Background:

• Structured case-based oral examinations are standard for US medical certification.
• These assessments evaluate candidates' clinical decision-making using patient cases.
• The influence of candidate communication skills on oral exam performance remains empirically unevaluated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between a candidate's communication ability and their scores in medical certification oral examinations.
• To determine if communication skills introduce bias in high-stakes medical assessments.

Main Methods:

• 90 candidates in a medical oral certification examination were assessed for communication ability by non-physician observers.
• The multi-facet Rasch model analyzed communication and oral examination data, controlling for rater bias.
• ANOVA and Pearson correlations examined relationships between communication ability, pass/fail status, and examination performance.

Main Results:

• Reliability for candidate measurement was high (0.85 for communication, 0.97 for oral exams).
• A low correlation (0.10) was found between communication scores and oral examination performance.
• No significant differences in oral examination scores were observed based on communication ability levels or pass/fail status.

Conclusions:

• Candidate communication ability has a negligible impact on performance in high-stakes, case-based oral examinations.
• Examiners in this certification process prioritized assessing decision-making skills, unaffected by candidate communication.
• Findings suggest communication ability does not significantly bias outcomes in this specific medical oral examination format.