Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:636-641
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Testing psychiatric knowledge with in-house examinations
GD Strauss, J Yager, EG Liston Jr and GE Strauss
Formal assessment during psychiatric training is becoming more common, not
only to evaluate trainees but also to meet demands for educational and
fiscal accountability. National norm-referenced tests such as the new
psychiatry in-training examination may not meet the needs of many residency
programs. The authors describe an alternate approach: an in- house test of
psychiatric knowledge. The importance of educational objectives, test
specifications, piloting the test, and item analyses is emphasized. The
process is time-consuming, and the authors examine the advantages of this
approach in terms of its costs.
