title: Licensing examinations in North America: is external audit valuable?
abstract: The United States and Canada both have long-standing, highly developed national systems of assessment for medical-licensure based outside the institutions of medical education. This commentary reviews those programs and explores some of the reasons for their implementation and retention for nearly a century. The North American experience may be relevant to dialog about national or European assessments for medical practice.
authors.affiliation: National Board of Medical Examiners, Philadelphia 19104, USA. dmelnick@nbme.org
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Melnick
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004501:Education, Medical; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D008004:Licensure; D009656:North America