Testing Services for Client/Partner Organizations

NBOME Testing Services

Since 1934, the NBOME has been recognized for excellence in osteopathically distinct physician assessment. The NBOME offers a variety of testing and psychometric services that can meet the specific needs of organizations.

The COMLEX-USA examination series is the assessment used for initial licensure of osteopathic physicians in the United States. In addition to providing the pathway to licensure for osteopathic medical practice, COMLEX-USA is a graduation requirement for earning a D.O. degree from a college of osteopathic medicine and is required for progression in graduate medical education.

Whether taking a test administered by their medical college or residency program, sitting for licensure examinations, or completing a performance improvement module, physicians-in-training and practicing physicians can be assured that the NBOME’s departments for Clinical Skills Testing  and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) offer the experience and expertise needed to create valid, reliable, and osteopathically distinctive tools and resources.

The success of COMLEX-USA and our other core examinations has enabled the NBOME to create customized assessment services for partner organizations and clients. Read more below about how we can help you with your cognitive and clinical assessment needs.

Cognitive (Computer-based) Examinations

Our expertise at the NBOME is providing summative assessments of medical knowledge. NBOME’s assessments are developed using test development processes that follow nationally recognized best practices related to security, legal defensibility and psychometric standards including reliability and validity evidence. NBOME Assessment Services offer the full range of testing services and support to our partner organizations.

Our core examination series provide the foundation we use to provide services customized to our partners’ needs:

Exam Development

• Item development, test development, and other support for customized exams
• Computerized item-banking (question repository services)
• Item-writing workshops and seminars
• Clinical skills case development and support
• Performance assessment
• Ongoing learning and continuing medical education online resources

Exam Production & Administration

• Exam production in all formats, including computer-generated using our delivery platform
• Interface and coordination with suppliers to deliver computer-based examinations in a secure testing environment, via the web, and at Prometric test centers nationwide
• Examinee verification
• Online test registration and credentialing
• Exam-day delivery services for in-service examinations, including registration, proctor-training, and test-day support

Psychometric & Scoring Services

• Classical item analysis and scoring
• Item response theory (IRT) calibrations, scaling, and equating
• Standard-setting consultation and studies for establishment of pass/fail standards for assessment and periodic resetting

Clinical Skills Testing and Oral Examinations

Clinical skills assessments and oral examinations are part of many certification, recertification, and all licensure requirements for medical students and practicing physicians. Our experience with administering the COMLEX-USA Level 2–Performance Evaluation to thousands of osteopathic medical students provides a solid foundation for us to support our partners with planning, launching, and maintaining a robust clinical skills and/or oral assessment program customized to their needs. ­­­­­

More (Click to expand)

The NBOME’s two National Centers for Clinical Skills Testing (NCCST) are the settings for highly sophisticated performance evaluations that simulate live encounters between health care professionals and patients, complementing and augmenting traditional summative assessments of medical knowledge. The two NCCST locations are in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia), and in Chicago, Illinois. Each test center is a state-of-the-art, technologically advanced clinical skills testing facility designed to ensure patient safety, security and standardization required for fairness in high-stakes testing. Both centers have the look and feel of an outpatient clinic, with examination rooms equipped with examination/treatment tables, test equipment (diagnostic otoscopes and direct ophthalmoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, tongue blades, cotton swabs, reflex hammers and tuning forks), sinks, and hand sanitizer. The rooms are equipped with two cameras for recording and monitoring of the stations from a central control room and a one-way mirror for direct observation.

For oral examinations, the rooms can be set up with an examiner and examinee station with computer stations for examination administration if required. For travel and lodging details, see Our Locations in the Who We Are section.

Our test centers are also available to our partner assessment organizations for customized clinical skills testing or oral assessment.

The distinctive features of our clinical skills testing program/oral examination include services in:

• Customized clinical skills testing methods depending on the individual partner organization’s needs at two testing locations—Philadelphia and Chicago
• Examination development and review, including blueprint development and job-task analysis
• Complete staffing services, including staff that welcome and register examinees and manage the test center experience
• Comprehensive training services or specialized trainers for proctors and standardized patients by NBOME’s team of subject-matter training experts (SMEs)
• Assistance with scoring development and physician examiner training
• Video capability to track and report examinee-patient encounters
• Specialized software used to record examinee encounters
• Comprehensive standard setting and score reporting services

Contact us for more information about customized clinical skills testing or oral examinations at one of our NCCST locations and arrange a tour.