Talk:United States Medical Licensing Examination

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Weasel, Peacock tags

I believe I have eliminated all of the vague, promotional wording that seemed to just mirror the USMLE website. Planning to remove the weasel and peackok tags. Please let me know your thoughts. MedGME (talk) 01:07, 15 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Untitled

How many external links, and what is an indicator for inclusion? Blogs? Commercial sites? JFW | T@lk 20:39, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'd lean against commercial sites, but I'd encourage inclusiveness for noncommercial sites. --Arcadian 02:11, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

title issue

is it licensing, or licensure? both? 134.174.157.217 16:51, 14 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Add a Useful site for preparation section on main page?

159.53.46.141 15:29, 21 December 2006 (UTC) Add a section for useful sites for preparation for USMLE?[reply]

No, it's linkspam. Leuko 02:36, 22 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe this could be relevant if research has found certain resources more useful than others? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.212.13.84 (talk) 12:55, 30 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

History

There is nothing here about the history of the exams. When did they start and under what circumstances? What are the advantages? What are some criticisms?Shigaon (talk) 07:53, 16 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Very good question. It seems that USMLE was established in 1996.--72.145.149.62 (talk) 18:02, 11 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How is it pronounced

"You Smile"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.187.32.194 (talk) 22:44, 4 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I've always said US M L E ChillyMD (talk) 01:17, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Or when you are sick of spelling it out "oo-suh-mul" haha — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.212.13.84 (talk) 13:44, 15 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Comment hidden - WP:Spam

USMLE Review Wiki

Adding http://wiki.clinicalreview.com as a free resource. Includes the world's largest collection of medical review resources for free. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.164.148.192 (talk) 21:53, 8 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No this is advert for clinical review website. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.178.117.172 (talk) 00:56, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

USMLE Preparation Wiki

Clinical Skills Review (clinicalskillsreview.net) is an online prep site for the Step 2 CS. This site is a comprehensive look at what the candidate can expect to see on the live exam. The purpose of the Step 2 CS is to assess the information gathering skills, physical exam techniques, and overall Doctor/Patient relationships. PrepDoctor (talk) 15:36, 10 November 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by PrepDoctor (talk • contribs) 15:34, 10 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Performance

This section was replaced with completely opposing information. I have readded the previous version and flagged it as contradictory. If only opposing primary sources are available it may be more sensible for the section to disappear. PriceDL (talk) 15:39, 14 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Contradiction addressed, issue was that sources from different times found different results, but now that the chronology of findings was addressed, the contradiction is no longer an issue — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.212.13.84 (talk) 12:58, 30 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Proposing an Infobox

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello all! I noticed that the articles for most comparable standardized tests have Infoboxes. I've created one and I'm dropping the code here along with a request for inclusion. Any thoughts, feedback and discussion would be appreciated. Thanks!

Done Handmeanotherbagofthemchips (talk) 15:36, 6 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! SBCornelius (talk) 16:25, 10 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

SBCornelius (talk) 20:18, 5 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting correction to factual error

The opening paragraph of this article has a major factual error and I'd like to suggest that someone correct it. The error is in the following sentence:

Physicians with a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree must pass either the USMLE or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX) exam for medical licensure.^[1]^[2]

^ Cite error: The named reference fmsb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Roberts, William L.; Gross, Gretta A.; Gimpel, John R.; Smith, Larissa L.; Arnhart, Katie; Pei, Xiaomei; Young, Aaron (June 16, 2020). "An Investigation of the Relationship Between COMLEX-USA Licensure Examination Performance and State Licensing Board Disciplinary Actions". Academic Medicine. 95 (6): 925–930. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000003046. PMID 31626002. S2CID 204775566 – via journals.lww.com.

The either/or language suggests that DOs can avoid taking COMLEX by taking the USMLE. This is not true as all DOs have to pass COMLEX for graduation and licensure. The source of the error is that many DOs are taking USMLE and COMLEX due to how competitive residency programs have become. Program director frequently rank candidates according to USMLE scores and DO candidate want to make it easier for those making the selections to see where they rank. Converting COMLEX scores for a fair comparison with USMLE scores can be complex. I have suggested a rewrite below.

"Many physicians with a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree now take the USMLE exam to improve their chances of obtaining their desired residency placement."^[1]^[2]

Thank you for your consideration! SBCornelius (talk) 19:06, 12 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@MedGME I just realized that there is a second place where things are unclear about USMLE and Osteopaths. The last sentence of the Purpose section reads: "However, as of 2021, physicians with a D.O. degree do not require it for licensure." To the layman this could sound like D.O.s don't have a licensing exam. Should it say something like - "Physicians with an M.D. degree are required to take the USMLE, but those with a D.O. degree take the COMLEX to qualify for state licensure." Just hoping to clean this up a bit more. Thanks! SBCornelius (talk) 17:52, 9 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. ~~ Just updated.~~ MedGME (talk) 17:32, 15 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Requesting edit or removal of information unsupported by the cited source

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

The following two statements appear to be unsupported by the cited source:

USMLE mean and median scores have increased significantly in the past decades—so much so that the testing board had to increase the score it takes to pass. A large part of the increase was attributed in empirically-based research articles to performance improvement factors such as using a question bank to prepare for the test.^[1]

The first sentence is completely unsupported by the source and the second discusses the results of a specific study as if they applied to all test takers. Since this is not in keeping with encyclopedic standards usually expected by the Wikipedia community, I would like to propose that these sentences be removed if no one can salvage them with an acceptable source. Any feedback or differing opinions are welcomed. SBCornelius (talk) 21:02, 6 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

MedGME, thanks for all of the work you've put in on this article in the last few days. I do want to resurface the issue of the two sentences supported by reference 26. The first sentence seems to imply that scores have gone up nationally and the second points to the tactics that have helped achieve these score improvements. I think it is misleading since the source is only talking about increases among a cohort at a single medical school with historically lower-than-average scores. It doesn't seem to me that readers or the encyclopedic goals of Wikipedia are served well by this.

Do you think it deserves clarification with additional sources or removal if no supporting sources are available? Thanks again for your time, because this article suffers from the fact that those most qualified to improve it (like yourself), have very little time to spend on this. For that reason, everything you do here is appreciated. SBCornelius (talk) 20:32, 3 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Your feedback is highly appreciated. MedGME (talk) 21:22, 3 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Marking as addressed since it appears that MedGME has implemented the requested change. Spencer^T•C 05:36, 11 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10401334.2017.1386106?scroll=top&needAccess=true

[fmsb-1] Cite error: The named reference fmsb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] Roberts, William L.; Gross, Gretta A.; Gimpel, John R.; Smith, Larissa L.; Arnhart, Katie; Pei, Xiaomei; Young, Aaron (June 16, 2020). "An Investigation of the Relationship Between COMLEX-USA Licensure Examination Performance and State Licensing Board Disciplinary Actions". Academic Medicine. 95 (6): 925–930. doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000003046. PMID 31626002. S2CID 204775566 – via journals.lww.com.

[3] ttps://www.ama-assn.org/medical-students/usmle-step-1-2/comlex-level-1-s-move-pass-fail-what-it-means-do-students#:~:text=Osteopathic%20schools%20require%20students%20to,during%20the%20residency%2Dselection%20process.

[4] ttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4936853/

[5] ttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10401334.2017.1386106?scroll=top&needAccess=true

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