Do local curriculum scores correlate with national residency test results? A pluriannual, nationwide survey of Italian Medical Universities

Abstract

In Italy, in order to match medical doctors to specialty residencies, the Minister of Education organizes a national MCQ composed of 140 items. Curriculum grants additional points based on the candidates’ grade average and graduation mark. Both national and international policies assume that curriculum scores can be evaluated in absolute terms, irrespective of the course attended by the candidate or its university of graduation. A fair inquiry over current criteria of selection is not available at the present day. Hence, this study aimed at investigating the degree of association between results in the Italian national residency test and the score given for each candidate’s curriculum. We calculated Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the score obtained at the 2019 test and curriculum scores. A moderate/high degree of correlation (rho=0.600) was reached. Considering single Universities, Spearman’s rho ranged from 0.447 to 0.788. We thus measured a modest but non negligible between-University variability. As differences between test and curriculum scores across institutions may determine the admission or not to the residency for many candidates, the authors call for a broader attention on the topic.

Keywords

• Testing
• curriculum evaluation
• postgraduate training
• admission
• selection.