Rationale and objectives: In February 2020, administrators for the US medical licensing examination (USMLE) announced that Step 1 reporting would change to pass/fail in hopes of reducing the overemphasis of USMLE performance on the residency selection system and improving medical student well-being. Our objective was to determine the perspectives of diagnostic radiology (DR), interventional radiology (IR), and nuclear medicine (NM) program directors (PDs) regarding pass/fail USMLE Step 1 scoring.
Materials and methods: A survey composed of thirteen questions on a three-point Likert scale, five demographic questions, and a free-text question was distributed to 179 DR, 84 IR, and 34 NM PDs from ACGME-accredited residency programs.
Results: In total, 140 unique responses were obtained (response rate = 47.1%). The PD respondents had a male predominance of 79.1%, average age of 46 ± 7.2 years, and average tenure of 5.9 ± 5.2 years. A majority of PDs (69.6%) disagreed that the change is a good idea, and a minority (21.6%) believe the change will improve medical student well-being. Further, 90.7% of PDs believe a pass/fail format will make it more difficult to objectively compare applicants and most will place more emphasis on USMLE Step 2 scores and medical school reputation (89.3% and 72.7%, respectively).
Conclusion: The lasting impact of pass/fail Step 1 scoring are uncertain and many radiology PDs do not support this change. While the central motivations to reduce the overemphasis on USMLE Step 1 performance and improve medical student well-being are admirable, it remains to be seen if pass/fail scoring will accomplish these goals.
Keywords: Medical student education; Pass/fail; Residency program director; Step 1; USMLE.
Copyright © 2020 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.