title: NBME subject examination in surgery scores correlate with surgery clerkship clinical experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Most medical schools in the United States use the National Board of Medical Examiners Subject Examinations as a method of at least partial assessment of student performance, yet there is still uncertainty of how well these examination scores correlate with clinical proficiency. Thus, we investigated which factors in a surgery clerkship curriculum have a positive effect on academic achievement on the National Board of Medical Examiners Subject Examination in Surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of 83 third-year medical students at our institution with 4 unique clinical experiences on the general surgery clerkship for the 2007-2008 academic year was conducted. Records of the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores, National Board of Medical Examiners Subject Examination in Surgery scores, and essay examination scores for the groups were compared using 1-way analysis of variance testing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rush University Medical Center, Chicago IL, an academic institution and tertiary care center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our data demonstrated National Board of Medical Examiners Subject Examination in Surgery scores from the group with the heavier clinical loads and least time for self-study were statistically higher than the group with lighter clinical services and higher rated self-study time (p = 0.036). However, there was no statistical difference of National Board of Medical Examiners Subject Examination in Surgery scores between the groups with equal clinical loads (p = 0.751).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students experiencing higher clinical volumes on surgical services, but less self-study time demonstrated statistically higher academic performance on objective evaluation, suggesting clinical experience may be of higher value than self-study and reading.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois. Electronic address: Jonathan_A_Myers@rush.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Yalini
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Vigneswaran
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gabryszak
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Louis F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Fogg
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Amanda B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Francescatti
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Golner
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Bines
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D002983:Clinical Competence; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Medical Knowledge; National Board of Medical Examiners examination; clerkship; clinical proficiency; general surgery; medical students