PA Program Research Projects
| If you are a faculty member at a PA program using Exam Master Online (EMO), please review the information provided on this page. Then click here to complete an anyonmous survey regarding your usage of EMO. | ||
| Title: | Improving PACKRATand PANCE Exam Scores by Requiring Student Use of an Online Medical Question Bank | |
| Sponsoring Organizations: | Idaho State University Department of Physician Assistant Studies and Medical School of South Carolina, Physician Assistant Program | |
| Dates: | A pilot study was completed in November of 2009. Results of this pilot study have been submitted for publication. The study is now being expanded and additional partipating programs are being sought. Data will be collected through Spring semester 2010. If you are interested in participating, please contact us (see information at the bottom of this page). | |
| Principle Investigator: | Bernadette Howlett, M.S., PhD Assistant Professor of Research, Idaho State University, Department of Physician Assistant Studies |
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| Type: | Multi-Institutional Pre/Post Control Study | |
| Funding: | The two sponsoring programs are funding the direct costs of this project. | |
| Human Subjects: | This study has been approved by the Human Subjects committees of Idaho State University and Medical University of South Carolina. | |
| Abstract: | Statement of the Problem: The field of medicine has an ever expanding breadth and depth of knowledge. The national board examination for physician assistants covers a selected range of topics in which programs must assure students are competent. The enormous scope of medical subject matter presents a challenge to PA programs in avoiding the tempation to "teach to the test." Curricular emphasis needs to be on developing skilled clinicians who possess not only the needed fund of basic medical knowledge, but also the necessary cognitive and communication skills to be effective and ethical healthcare providers. Administering valid assessments is particularly challenging in today's medical training environment. One potential solution is the use of online medical question banks (such as Exam Master Online). These systems include questions that are aligned with the national certifying examination. The questions are written by subject-matter experts including PAs and physicians. As such, an online medical question bank may not only address the curricular need, but might also improve student scores on the PACKRAT (Physician Assistant Clinical Knowledge Rating and Assessment Tool) and the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination). This study can be placed within the theoretical framework of assessment and instructional alignment.
Participants: Students attending Physician Assistant programs that use Exam Master Online (EMO). Student records are deidentified before they are submitted to the study. Only aggregate data will be reported. The student data comes from examinations that are administered as a normal component of the curriculum. Background: The research question explored in this study is to whether the use of Exam Master is correlated with: a) student exam scores on the PACKRAT; and, b) student exam scores on the PANCE. The PACKRAT is a preliminary test used to assess how well a PA student will score on the National Board Exam. The National Board Exam is a manditory test which all PA students must pass before they are permitted to practice as a physician assistant. Preparing students to succeed on these two exams is critical. There are many resources available to help prepare students to take these exams, one of which is an online testing system known as Exam Master Online. Exam Master is an online question bank which includes questions aligned with the PANCE. It provides students with numerous practice exams which simulate the National Board Exam in content and question construction. It allows students to take multiple exams and review their results. It is an exceptional training tool which may be correlated to higher exam scores on both the PACKRAT and the PANCE. Results: Preliminary data compiled by the ISU and Medical University of South Carolina Physician Assistant programs indicate that the use of Exam Master improves student exam scores on the PACKRAT and PANCE. Therefore, it is the goal of this project, to extend this study by including data collected from other universities who also use Exam Master. |
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| Contact Information: | Bernadette Howlett, PhD Research Assistant Professor howlbern@isu.edu 208-282-3841 |
Cathryn Erickson Student Research Assistant martcath@isu.edu 208-282-3841 |