The clinical skills assessment for international medical graduates in The Netherlands.
OBJECTIVE
A need was felt to improve the quality of admission and licensing procedures for international medical graduates in The Netherlands.


METHODS
A clinical skills assessment was designed as part of a new procedure to realize a high-stakes, fair, transparent, and a time-limited path of admission for international medical graduates to the Dutch health care system. Additionally, it should provide a well-founded advice about length and content of additional medical training, should this be indicated by the outcome of the assessment.


RESULTS
The clinical skills assessment procedure was developed as a Dutch variant of the "Step 2 Clinical Skills examination" of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) in collaboration with the United States National Board of Medical Examiners, which has a well-documented validity and reliability. The experience with the new procedure is yet limited, but enough to warrant a report.


CONCLUSIONS
Worldwide, a number of countries have developed such high-stake assessment procedures, but they show little uniformity and transparency. By describing the design and development of our procedure, we do not pretend to set a standard, but we hope to contribute to more fair, accurate and uniform approaches for doctors moving from one country to another.
Sonderen
Marye J
MJ
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands. m.sonderen@aig.umcn.nl
Denessen
Eddie
E
Cate
Olle Th J Ten
OT
Splinter
Ted A W
TA
Postma
Cornelis T
CT
D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005550:Foreign Medical Graduates; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D012570:School Admission Criteria