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Fact or Fiction - PANCE results released on Thursdays?


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Was expecting to get results today - but nothing yet. 

From other posts i've noticed most get scores Thursdays around 9-10 AM. 

 

Are Thursdays the only day the NCCPA releases scores? - Not looking forward to waiting another week but at least it's not the olden days of 2-3 month waits. 

 

 

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So I guess I can expect to wait a full two weeks! I took mine on thursday August 20th--no results yesterday. So another week of waiting. We, as a group, should not have to put up with this archaic wait in today's era of technology. I recently had a NP student take her boards. She told me that results are displayed immediately upon conclusion of the computerized test. They click the submit button and, boom, results! We should lobby to have this system changed, there is no good reason for this foolishness.

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It's hard, but when I took the PANCE in 1980 (yes, you read it right) it was offered only once a year, and it took five months to get the results.  It was offered in September and you got the results in January.  If you failed it, you had to wait until the next year to take it again.  And it was a two day test with a clinical skills portion that was nervewracking.   So it could be worse!

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It's hard, but when I took the PANCE in 1980 (yes, you read it right) it was offered only once a year, and it took five months to get the results.  It was offered in September and you got the results in January.  If you failed it, you had to wait until the next year to take it again.  And it was a two day test with a clinical skills portion that was nervewracking.   So it could be worse!

I took pance in 1996, the last year it was given in this format. Board week included 3 written tests and 3 practicals given over several days. we took it in early October and I got my results Christmas eve.

The next year, pa students sat for the first time for a single 300 question written test at a computer with no practical exam component. The reason given for the change at the time was that medical students don't have a practical component to their licensing exam. A few years later they did.

I would like to see us add a practical portion back into pance as the med students have done with step 2 of their licensing exam.

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Major problem is of course cost and inter-rater reliability, which is actually why NCCPA discontinued the exam after a challenge that year.....they could not prove inter-rater reliability with the number of cases given (one long, two short) and would have had to increase it to an entire day with multiple trained examiners and stations.....far too expensive.  Many people used to fail the practical portion; in contrast, almost no one fails the MD clinical step because it had to be made lawsuit proof.   Only brief physical exam checklists are used, the old detailed physical exams that used to be required for us went the way of the do do bird (and it shows in practice).  And the verbal component is basically to insure minimal essential communications with a patient in English.  So it would cost much more and I am not sure what would be gained at this point.  I was a grader/assessor for the NCCPA practical test between 1981 and 1993.   It was so stressful for students that we saw several ambulances called for syncope.  What we would now call panic attacks were not unusual. 

 

Up to the time you took the examination, an average of 25% failed every iteration by design, that is the way the test was graded.  My stats were very up to date then, I think now it is less than 10% because the tests are graded with a different metric that is supposed to be more indicative of competence.  That differentiation is beyong my scope of practice in statistics and I do not follow the NCCPA closely any more.  Testing is now very big business but high legal risk. 

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I understand that many programs now use simulated patients to try to polish physical exam skills. I don't have much experience with this, but could see how it could be a positive feature of the teaching process. I always liked the PBL format to try to incorporate book learning into practice and I can envision a hybrid PBL/simulated pt exercise that if done regularly would help students feel more at ease when they enter clinical rotations. Maybe 15 min long. You get a scenario with a basic complaint, meds list, etc and have to do an appropriate hx and PE and come up with a DDX and plan for further testing. you are then told the results of your requested studies and asked to come up with a Tx plan. you then do a debrief with the instructor in which they ask why you ruled in or out different disorders and how you arrived at a dx and tx plan. we had an oral version of this at the end of PA school. our exit orals lasted 20-30 min. The about -to- graduate PA student sat down with 3 instructors and they threw clinical scenarios at you , asked about tx given certain allergies or pmh, etc. I thought it was a great way to insure that students were ready to graduate.

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We have a 200q mc exam, 20 clinical scenario short answer exam, and a simulated patient experience where we have 5-7 20 minute patient encounters (with actors) where we have to do a history, physical, and then answer questions about the case on a computer (5 mins between cases). Usually they also throw in a full history and physical as well as a counseling session. We have to pass all parts to graduate. I think if programs were required to have a simulated patient encounters component to the summative exam required to graduate, which was held to certain standards, there would be no need or controversy over having a practical component to pa certification.

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