Content Core Surgical Exam

General surgical knowledge (60%)

60% of the exam questions test general surgical knowledge. The exam content is based on the Core Surgical Curriculum of the Swiss College of Surgeons

Specific surgical expertise (40%)

40% of the exam tests specific surgical knowledge in the following specialties:

• General surgery: 12 %
• Orthopaedics and traumatology: 8 %
• Vascular surgery: 4 %
• Hand and plastic surgery: 4 %
• Pediatric surgery: 4 %
• Thoracic surgery: 4 %
• Urology: 4 %

The focus here is on the most important diagnoses and treatments of the specialties, including the red flags that all surgeons must know regardless of their specialization. The level of knowledge expected is equivalent to that of a surgical trainee not working in this discipline. The level of detail is adapted to the experience and skills of a third year trainee. He/she should be able to treat the patient until a specialist is available.

Methodology

The questions of the Core Surgical Exam are based on the exam content, which has been aligned with the individual specialist societies and the content of the Core Surgical Curriculum of the Swiss College of Surgeons. The questions are created and evaluated by the examination board and accepted following a consensus decision. The content of the questions must be in line with the exam content and the currently valid doctrine and practice in Switzerland. It is checked whether the questions meet the criteria for science-based assessment for high-stakes exams*.

After the test, key validation takes place, based on the statistical analysis of the overall test and each individual question. The following are assessed: the level of difficulty, selectivity, distractor differences and group differences. Examination questions with conspicuous statistics are checked again in terms of content. If it turns out that the question exceeds the performance level or has a substantial deficiency in terms of content or form, it can be excluded from the assessment.

Further criteria are the measurement reliability/reliability of the exam, which is measured by the standard measurement factor Cronbach's alpha, as well as validity, i.e. whether the exam measures what it is supposed to. The content must correspond to the exam content accepted by all professional associations. The questions are distributed according to the weighted content grids defined there.

All questions are based on a consensus of the examination board, in which all surgical specialty societies of the Basic Examination Association are represented.

*Norcini J, Anderson B, Bollela V, Burch V, Costa MJ, Duvivier R, Galbraith R, Hays R, Kent A, Perrott V, Roberts T. Criteria for good assessment: consensus statement and recommendations from the Ottawa 2010 Conference. Medical Teacher. 2011 Mar 1 ;33(3):206-14.