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Biomedical subjects

N A Orr

Publications and source records attributed to N A Orr.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Standard-setting plans for the NBME comprehensive Part I and Part II examinations.

The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) has reviewed its procedure for setting pass-fail standards in conjunction with the introduction of its comprehensive Part I and Part II examinations in 1991. This report gives background information on the procedures used for the past decade to set pass-fail standards for the Part I and Part II examinations, an overview of the NBME's research on standard setting, under way since 1987, and a statement of its plans for determining pass-fail standards for these examinations. In 1981 the NBME changed from the norm-referenced standard, used since the 1950s, to a criterion-group approach to setting pass-fail standards. Although the criterion-group system resulted in more stable standards, it still meant that the standard moved whenever the performance of the reference group changed. After conducting research, surveying constituencies, and examining alternatives, the NBME has adopted a new standard-setting plan that has the following components: a content-based standard-setting procedure; determination of standards by an appropriate group; use of a fixed standard; and periodic review of standards and standard-setting procedures. This new process will produce three types of improvements: it will incorporate deliberations informed by a wide range of information, including content review; annual review of examinees' performances and pass-fail results and triennial restudy of the process will add further quality control; and a fixed standard will mean that comparable performances will be required across administrations in order to pass.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗
PubMed1991

Assessment of constituency opinion about NBME examination standards.

The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) reviewed its procedures for setting pass-fail standards in conjunction with the introduction of its comprehensive Part I and Part II examinations in 1991. A component of the review was the 1990 survey of 12 NBME constituencies to assess opinions about pass-fail rates and standard setting. The survey responses, generally consistent across groups, revealed (1) support for a more even distribution of fail rates across the three examinations, (2) support for a fixed standard, with pass-fail rates that change depending on the performance of a cohort of examinees, and (3) a favorable reaction to setting performance standards based on a review of the examination content. These responses may serve as a resource and a frame of reference for determining the standards for the comprehensive Part I and Part II examinations.

Attitude↗
PubMed1991

Trends in measures of computer experience and computer anxiety for students in three successive medical school classes.

Computer-related variables, including measures of computer anxiety and computer experience, were evaluated for three successive classes of matriculating medical students. Across the three classes, average computer anxiety measures declined and differences in the levels of computer anxiety for males and females diminished. Average measures of computer experience rose over time and were comparable for males and females, although there was a trend toward increasing divergence in the range and distribution of students' computer experience scores. Implications of these findings for addressing computer literacy in the medical curricula are discussed.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1991

Continued research on computer-based testing.

The National Board of Medical Examiners has developed computer-based examination formats for use in evaluating physicians in training. This paper describes continued research on these formats including attitudes about computers and effects of factors not related to the trait being measured; differences between paper-administered and computer-administered multiple-choice questions; and the characteristics of simulation formats. The implications for computer-based testing and further research are discussed.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗
PubMed1989

Performance profiles of topical antimicrobials in vitro.

The in-vitro efficacy of commercially available topical antimicrobial products against control strains and those from clinical material are compared with an agar diffusion model. The MICs of the constituent antimicrobial compounds have been determined for the same organisms. Plotting the inhibition zone diameters produced by the topical products against the log10 MICs of their constituent antimicrobial compound(s) gives overall product performance profiles for a range of organisms. These profiles confirm that the formulation of a topical product clearly modifies the response obtained with a specific antimicrobial compound.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1978

Content uniformity of potent drugs in tablets.

The type of distribution of low dosage drugs that occurs in batches of commercially available tablets has been examined. The uniformity of content of ethinyloestradiol tablets 10 micrograms B.P. from different sources, assessed by single tablet assay showed that three batches exhibited some positive skewness and one marked positive skewness. At the high level of dilution required, the mixing theory indicates that particles of drug must be very fine if acceptable content uniformity is to be obtained. Cohesion of particles impairs the efficiency of the mixing process. It is shown theoretically that unless the drug is dispersed into its component particles the shape of the distribution curve for the content of drug per tablet, in a batch of tablets, will be positively skewed. The relation between the tensile strength of the powdered drug and the degree of skewness of the drug content is also discussed. A positively skewed distribution for tablets containing a small amount of potent drug is unacceptable because this can lead to the presence of relatively large doses of drug in a single tablet. Where one unexpectedly high result occurs in the quality control of the content uniformity of tablets containing potent drugs it is suggested that sufficient single tablet assays be performed to allow the shape of the distribution curve to be assessed. A test for skewness should be included in compendial standards.

Ethinyl Estradiol↗