Measuring Competence

Excerpt

The american specialty boards in medicine, surgery, and the various subspecialties were created to guarantee to the public competent performance from doctors in the area certified by the board. This objective was to be obtained by two methods: the presentation by the candidate of a program of training that was judged by the board to be of the type that would allow the candidate a reasonable chance of passing an examination given by the experts on the board; and by passing the examination.

The boards early recognized that there was a difference between knowledge and competence. The development of multiple