title: Grading medical students in a psychiatry clerkship: correlation with the NBME subject examination scores and its implications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The author analyzed and compared various assessment methods for assessment of medical students; these methods included clinical assessment and the standardized National Board of Medical Education (NBME) subject examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Students were evaluated on their 6-week clerkship in psychiatry by both their clinical supervisors and the NBME exam. Results on clinical parameters and the standardized test were analyzed by correlation measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total clinical grade did not correlate with the shelf-examination (NBME) scores. Knowledge-base scores correlated weakly with NBME examination scores. The shelf-examination scores showed a stronger correlation with the interpersonal component of the clinical grade than with the faculty assessment of the students' medical knowledge, history-taking skills, or clinical skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Grades received by the students in clinical reasoning and data-synthesis, history-taking skills, and the total clinical grade, did not predict students' standardized examination score. Surprisingly, students with stronger interpersonal attributes performed better on the shelf-examination.
authors: Dept. of Psychiatry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. dramchan@drexelmed.edu
authors: Dilip
authors: D
authors: Ramchandani
mesh_terms: D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000592:standards*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards; D013337:Students, Medical