E60: Breaking News - USMLE Step 2 CS gets Cancelled!

The Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS) test of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) has been discontinued. The two organizations that sponsor the exam, the FSMB, and NBME, announced last Tuesday, January 26th, 2021. 

Step 2 CS has been an all-day exam and typically requires test-takers to gather clinical information, perform physical exams, and communicate with colleagues about a set of standardized patients.

The test was aimed to evaluate interpersonal and communication skills in a clinical setting, as opposed to a multiple-choice exam.

But critics of Step 2 CS say it's too expensive and time-consuming, often posing unnecessary medical students' barriers.

Following Step 2 CS's postponement last May of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) stated that part of the test will now be discontinued permanently.

Initially, the organizations planned to suspend Step 2 CS for 12 to 18 months to bring back a modified and improved version. But "after reviewing current and anticipated progress with the exam and in consideration of the rapidly evolving medical education, practice, and technology landscapes," the organizations said that the exam step would be terminated.

"We have no plans to bring back Step 2 CS, but we intend to take this opportunity to focus on working with our colleagues in medical education and at the state medical boards to determine innovative ways to assess clinical skills," the USMLE statement said.

Initially, the organizations planned to suspend Step 2 CS for 12 to 18 months to bring back a modified and improved version.

But "after reviewing current and anticipated progress with the exam and in consideration of the rapidly evolving medical education, practice, and technology landscapes," the organizations said that the exam step would be terminated.

"We have no plans to bring back Step 2 CS, but we intend to take this opportunity to focus on working with our colleagues in medical education and at the state medical boards to determine innovative ways to assess clinical skills".

Despite Step 2 CS's cancellation, clinical reasoning and communication will continue to be assessed in other steps, including computer simulations in Step 3 and bolstered content in Step 1, the organizations said.

This could be taken in a concerning way by the FMG / IMG community and is still to see what will be determined and the new process that will take place and be established to evaluate that realm of proficiencies. It could be seen as a disadvantage at this point, but my advice is not to panic and wait and see what happens once the dust settles!

See my YouTube videos on this topic here: 

English Version:

https://youtu.be/oWcVbdglsWE

Spanish Version:

https://youtu.be/_jibh-MVVtc

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Good bye for now, 

Alonso Osorio, M.D.