An Immersive Item Writing Course to Enhance Medical Students' Pedagogical Skills and Enrich the School's Question Bank

Background

There is an ongoing demand for a robust bank of National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) style items to evaluate knowledge application, also known as multiple choice questions (MCQ), in medical schools across the United States.

Approach

We postulated that training medical students in item writing could be an effective strategy to support their development as students and future medical educators while also expanding the school's question bank.

Evaluation

Fourteen students participated and generated 42 new items spanning a variety of topics, which were added to the school's question bank. After the course, all students reported feeling confident that they could write their own NBME-style MCQs. When reflecting on the experience, they noted increased comfort with the clinical material, acknowledged the course's benefit in learning the content, felt more engaged in their educational journey and reported a better understanding of navigating MCQs.

Implications

Item writing training offers medical students an active learning experience, enhancing their understanding of both pedagogy and clinical knowledge. This training not only equips students with valuable skills for their future careers but also allows them to contribute to the institutional educational resources while fostering trust and collaboration with faculty.