Identifying students at risk of failing the USMLE step 2 clinical skills examination

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: New standards announced in 2017 could increase the failure rate for Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS). The purpose of this study was to identify student performance metrics associated with risk of failing. METHODS: Data for 1,041 graduates of one medical school from 2014 through 2017 were analyzed, including 30 (2.9%) failures. Metrics included Medical College Admission Test, United states Medical Licensing Examination Step 1, and clerkship National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Subject Examination scores; faculty ratings in six clerkships; and scores on an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Bivariate statistics and regression were used to estimate risk of failing. RESULTS: Those failing had lower Step 1 scores, NBME scores, faculty ratings, and OSCE scores (P