[A standardized practical examination for title revalidation of graduates of foreign medical schools]

The University of Chile, backed by its extensive experience in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), performs the practical exam to graduates of foreign medical school in this format. This test format would give more guarantees of validity and fairness as compared with the previous oral examination that was required for title revalidation.

To compare the performance of graduates of foreign medical schools and last year medical students of the University of Chile in the same internal medicine OSCE.

Seventy-seven last year medical students and thirty-three graduates of foreign medical schools participated in the same Internal Medicine OSCE, but in different moments. At the end of the examination, graduates of foreign medical schools answered a questionnaire about their prior experience with OSCEs and about their perception about this type of examination.

The performance of graduates of foreign medical schools was lower than those of our last year medical students in four of the eight stations of the examination. Graduates of foreign medical schools considered the examination objective, fair, and that it assessed skills adequately and that the degree difficulty was homogeneous for all examinees.

The possibility of obtaining comparable results in a transparent process makes the OSCE the assessment tool of choice for title revalidation of physicians migrating from foreign countries.