The mini clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) for assessing clinical performance of international medical graduates.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the feasibility, reliability and acceptability of the mini clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) for performance assessment among international medical graduates (IMGs).


METHODS
Observational study of 209 patient encounters involving 28 IMGs and 35 examiners at three metropolitan teaching hospitals in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, September-December 2006.


METHODS
The reliability of the mini-CEX was estimated using generalisability (G) analysis, and its acceptability was evaluated by a written survey of the examiners and IMGs.


RESULTS
The G coefficient for eight encounters was 0.88, suggesting that the reliability of the mini-CEX was 0.90 for 10 encounters. Almost half of the IMGs (7/16) and most examiners (14/18) were satisfied with the mini-CEX as a learning tool. Most of the IMGs and examiners enjoyed the immediate feedback, which is a strong component of the tool.


CONCLUSIONS
The mini-CEX is a reliable tool for performance assessment of IMGs, and is acceptable to and well received by both learners and supervisors.
Nair
Balakrishnan R
BR
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. kichu.nair@newcastle.edu.au
Alexander
Heather G
HG
McGrath
Barry P
BP
Parvathy
Mulavana S
MS
Kilsby
Eve C
EC
Wenzel
Johannes
J
Frank
Ian B
IB
Pachev
George S
GS
Page
Gordon G
GG
D002983:Clinical Competence; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D009517:New South Wales; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000592:standards; D011793:Queensland; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014739:Victoria