title: A four-year perspective of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine tests: an online testing tool for medical students.
abstract: Nationwide survey findings that most U.S. emergency medicine clerkship directors were interested in participating in a methodologically rigorous student testing program prompted the development of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Medical Student Online Testing Service (SAEM Tests). This article describes the development of SAEM Tests and details usage and progress since the on-line release in June 2005. Specifically, we review the construction of SAEM Tests and present validity and difficulty statistics obtained at the first analysis of test performance 6 months after its release and again 12 months later after revisions aimed at enhancing test performance. We then review the current status of SAEM Tests and summarize future goals and directions.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. ESenecal@Partners.org
authors.forename: Emily L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Senecal
authors.forename: Stephen H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Beeson
mesh_terms: D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000592:standards*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D009862:Online Systems; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012655:Self-Evaluation Programs; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods