By: Dr. Perrin Michalyshyn
For many, spring is exam season. Over the past few months, you may have received one of the many requests for practising physicians to serve as examiners for medical school, residency, and licensing exams. Regardless of where you are in your career, it can be gratifying to have opportunities to be on the ‘other’ side of the curtain as an examiner after years of training when we played the role of high-strung examinee. Having served as an examiner myself on multiple objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and oral exams this spring, I wanted to share some reasons to consider becoming an examiner, and tips to help examiners perform at their best.
Why Become an Examiner?
- Improve your knowledge – Becoming an examiner is an excellent way to expose your knowledge gaps. When I pulled up the marking sheet for this year’s physical exam OSCE for second-year University of Alberta students, I was immediately struck by the fact that I had completely forgotten a number of the required manoeuvres myself! I also find that when I review something for the sake of being an examiner, I end up diving much more deeply into the material than I might otherwise. There is extra motivation to learn something well when you know that a candidate’s success is riding on your knowledge.
- Connect with colleagues – Particularly for those of us who work in community settings, it can sometimes be difficult to find ways to meet and interact with colleagues outside of our clinic. Becoming an examiner is a great opportunity to stay connected to the broader medical community by meeting and working with peers locally, provincially, and even nationally.
- Take a break while earning some cash – Beyond getting a break from the day-to-day grind of clinic or hospital, examiners are often paid a stipend for their time. The compensation is typically less than clinical work, but it’s a nice perk nonetheless!
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Tips for OSCE and Oral Examiners:
- Don’t give too much away – These candidates are our current and future colleagues, so of course we want them to do well! However, examiners receive strict orders to avoid offering extra prompts to a struggling candidate or words of encouragement as a candidate heads to their next station. With dozens or even hundreds of examiners required for each exam sitting, standardization is critical to a fair and reliable candidate evaluation.
- Master the part – It sounds obvious, but the better you know your station (or script if you’re doubling as a standardized patient), the less stressful the experience will be. An examiner’s worst fear is making a mistake that could omit marks or lead a candidate down the wrong path during a time-sensitive evaluation. Knowing your part well enough to adapt to the unexpected – candidates may offer off-topic answers or ask questions that pull you off script – will ensure you can find a tactful way to recover if you’re ever pulled off track.
- Have a ‘reset’ strategy between candidates – This is especially important for multi-day exams. The more candidates you examine, the more their answers will blur together in your mind. It’s very easy to start wondering ‘Was it the last candidate who forgot to ask about family history, or the one before them?’. Develop a strategy to clear your mind between candidates. This might mean spending a minute to take a breathing exercise, a movement break, or even just giving your eyes a rest by looking into the distance out a window. Whatever works for you, have a plan to make sure you’re sharp again for each new candidate you see.
If you are interested in upcoming examiner opportunities, keep an eye out for news from the CFPC about the fall CCFP exam sitting, or consider putting your name forward to the Medical Council of Canada to assist with their National Assessment Collaboration (NAC) exam for international medical graduates this September. Happy examining!
Bonus Tip – Did you know you can also earn Mainpro+ credits as an examiner by simply completing a Linking Learning to Assessment exercise? Visit the Linking Learning page on the CFPC website for more information.
