An assessment of the Chilean National Examination of Orthopaedic Surgery

BACKGROUND: The Chilean National Examination of Orthopaedic Surgery (EMNOT) has been administered since 2009. It was developed to determine whether individual residents are meeting minimal knowledge standards at the end of their training programs. METHODS: We performed a retrospective evaluation of the EMNOT for all years it has been administered (2009–2015). The test was analyzed for content, taxonomy of questions asked (1: direct recall; 2: diagnosis; 3: evaluation/decision-making), residents’ performance, difficulty index and discrimination index. RESULTS: During the years of EMNOT administration, the most frequently tested areas have been pediatric orthopaedics (22.9 %), spine (13.8 %), general orthopaedics (13.8 %) and musculoskeletal trauma (9.9 %). A significant increase in questions with images was observed, as well as a significant decrease in the percentage of Type 1 and an increase in Type 3 questions. The Difficulty Index showed a medium level of difficulty for all years the examination has been administered. The Discrimination Index showed good discrimination in 2009, fair discrimination from 2010 through 2012, and excellent discrimination from 2013 through 2015. CONCLUSION: The EMNOT has evolved over several years to include better quality questions, better discrimination, and a more representative distribution of questions covering the different orthopaedic sub-specialties. This examination represents an effective instrument for quality assurance of orthopaedic residency programs in Chile.