title: Impact of the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 2 Clinical Skills exam on medical school clinical skills assessment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical schools face a new responsibility to prepare students for the United States Medical Licensing Exam Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) exam.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted semistructured interviews with 25 leaders of medical school clinical skills assessments to explore purposes of in-house assessment and the impact of the Step 2 CS exam. Interviews were coded to identify major themes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Competency assessment, student and curricular feedback, and preparation for the licensing exam emerged as major purposes of in-house exams. Participants asserted that in-house exams assessed faculty-identified competencies, although not all schools had defined competencies. Limited resources made balancing formative and summative assessment goals problematic for some schools. Curricular feedback was general but valued. All schools, even those that disagreed with aspects of the licensing exam, acknowledged their roles in preparing students for the Step 2 CS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An external licensing requirement engenders debate and motivates changes in clinical skills assessment and, in some cases, curricula.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Francisco, 533 Parnassus Ave., Box 0131, U137, San Francisco, CA 94143-0131, USA. khauer@medicine.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Hauer
authors.forename: Arianne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teherani
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Patricia S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: O'sullivan
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Irby
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008007:Licensure, Medical; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States