Validation of the American Board of Internal Medicine Written Examination A Study of the Examination as a Measure of Achievement in Graduate Medical Education

(ABIM), recognizing and responding to the major changes taking place in training programs and in the practice of internal medicine, instituted new requirements for train-ing and new examination procedures. Consonant with these new plans, it was important to validate the evalua-tion procedures in current use by the Board, as well as to foster the development of new procedures for the evaluation of clinical competence. The ABIM and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), supported by the Commonwealth Fund and the Carnegie Corporation, jointly initiated studies aimed at developing new test procedures using computer technology. An evaluation of our present examination procedures was The validity of the Written Examination of the American Board of Internal Medicine was investigated by comparing the test performance of first- and third-year residents in internal medicine. These criterion groups were matched by graduate training programs and types of internship served. Statistically significant differences in favor of the third-year trainees were found for each section of the test and for the test as a whole, indicating that the examination is a valid measure of achievement at the graduate level. Differences between criterion groups on the various sections of the test suggest that the physician's ability to gather clinical data is relatively well developed when he enters residency training and improves at a made under the guidance of Dr. Charles Schumacher of the National Board of Medical Examiners; this study is summarized in the following manuscript. I believe the data obtained are of interest to prospective candidates, program directors, and present members of the ABIM. I think it reflects the careful work of our Committee on the Certifying Examination and should reassure trainees and program directors alike that the test in-strument in present use is a valid one. The ABIM wishes to express its thanks to Dr. Schumacher for his contribution to this study