Medical specialty certification exams studied according to the Ottawa Quality Criteria: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Medical specialty certification exams are high-stakes summative assessments used to determine which doctors have the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes to treat patients independently. Such exams are crucial for patient safety, candidates' career progression and accountability to the public, yet vary significantly among medical specialties and countries. It is therefore of paramount importance that the quality of specialty certification exams is studied in the scientific literature.

Methods

In this systematic literature review we used the PICOS framework and searched for papers concerning medical specialty certification exams published in English between 2000 and 2020 in seven databases using a diverse set of search term variations. Papers were screened by

SUBMITTER: Staudenmann D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10466740 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature