Document Type
Literature Review (Systematic or Meta-Analysis)
Disciplines
Higher Education | Medical Education | Medicine and Health Sciences
Abstract
Background: The IM-ITE is administered annually to provide residents and program leadership with a measure of the residents' knowledge compared with that of their peers nationwide. Several approaches have been used to improve IM-ITE scores as a means of achieving higher first-time board examination pass rates. While these interventions helped improve outcomes in target programs, it remains unclear whether one approach was superior to another and how different program demographics may have played a role in the outcome of the intervention. Objective: To identify the most effective methods used to improve IM-ITE scores in the literature. Methods: We searched MEDLINE and Cochrane Review databases on 11/26/2023, using the keywords: “internal medicine” AND “in-training exam” AND “performance”. Results: A total of 38 articles were examined. Five articles met the inclusion criteria. Three of which were conducted in community-based residency programs, two in university-based residency programs. None of these programs were new (established in the last 10 years) and all were single institution studies. Interventions identified include strengthening didactic curriculum, minimum conference attendance requirement, use of online education platform with question/case-based assessment, involvement of core faculty, and implementation of individualized study plans. Conclusions: We identified interventions that were successful at improving IM-ITE performance in their target cohorts to variable degrees. Utilizing the interventions summarized in this review may help residency programs improve IM-ITE performance among their residents and provide guidance to their faculty members in the process.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.32873/unmc.dc.gmerj.6.2.006
Keywords
Graduate medical education, internal medicine residency, in-service training exam, IM-ITE
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Clar, D., Juneau, R., McNeal, V., Patel, D., Patel, P., , Ilaiwy, A. Effective Strategies in Improving Internal Medicine In-Training Exam Performance - A Systematic Review. Graduate Medical Education Research Journal. 2024 Dec 31; 6(2).
https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/gmerj/vol6/iss2/6
