So, seems like the Clinical Skills Assessment or CSA is coming to a theatre near you (if you live near one of the 5 testing ceters) in order for the standardized test gods to determine if you have what it takes to be at least a decent clinician. While in theory this sounds like a great idea (we all know people who are residents or 4th year med students who we’d prefer be figuratively put to pasture), I think it will generate a lot more cost, and really is not going to change much. Some people are just not clinically and humanistically “built” to be clinicians, but I don’t think any exam is proven to predict who those people will be. There is an interesting commentary this week at the New England Journal of Medicine website which poses the question.
Bottom line: Is it really worth it? It’s going to cost each student $950 just to register for the test, and add in several hundred dollars for flight time, hotels, and meals, and you have to wonder if it’s worth that to see if someone isn’t “cut out” for this line of work. (oh, and don’t forget the additional time spent to study, and buy study books!)
I think the better solution would be for the medical schools to really work much harder at what they do, and for residencies also to be stricter and tougher on the “select” few who really are not up to the job.
-Fool