Differences in Physician Performance and Self-rated Confidence on High- and Low-stakes Knowledge Assessments in Board Certification

Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions (03/07/23) Price, David W.; Wang, Ting; O'Neill, Thomas R.; et al.

Researchers evaluated the accuracy and confidence of answers given by physicians participating in high- and low-stakes longitudinal knowledge evaluations of the American Board of Family Medicine. According to the retrospective analysis, participants were more frequently correct but less confident in their accuracy on a higher-stakes assessment after one and two years, than with a lower-stakes assessment. The two platforms were similar in terms of question difficulty; however, there were differences in terms of time spent answering questions, using resources to answer questions and questions' perceived relevance to practice. The authors suggest the findings suggest "that physicians may be more engaged in higher-stakes compared with lower-stakes assessments." They conclude the analyses demonstrate how higher- and lower-stakes knowledge assessment can complement each other in physician education during continuing specialty board certification.

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