title: The mini clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) for assessing clinical performance of international medical graduates.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. kichu.nair@newcastle.edu.au
authors.forename: Balakrishnan R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Heather G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Barry P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: Mulavana S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Parvathy
authors.forename: Eve C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Kilsby
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.forename: Ian B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: George S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Pachev
authors.forename: Gordon G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Page
mesh_terms: 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