Thank you to everyone who has supported medical students by signing our petition to end Step 2CS. We deeply appreciate every signature, every share, every social media "like" and every sign of solidarity. The more support we gather, the stronger our collective voice becomes, and the more likely we are to be heard by those in power. With 3,000 signatures so far, our call to action is growing louder every day.
I sincerely hope that AAMC, NBME, and USMLE seriously consider all of our concerns about a virtual Step 2 CS moving forward. We need to have a serious discussion about their proposed changes, and need to know a lot more information, including:
- How they designed, validated and tested a virtual exam
- Why they've chosen to change to a virtual exam rather than suspend the exam altogether
- Whether they genuinely believe a virtual exam tests our skills appropriately
- If they understand that medical students do not receive training on telehealth encounters, and thus will be tested on a skill set we have not learned
- If they believe residency programs will actually use the scores from a virtual exam in a meaningful way
- How they plan to test ability to do a physical exam on a video chat, which is an essential part of the reason the exam exists in the first place
- Whether they feel communication skills can be fully tested in this format in a way that is close enough to the in-person exam
If med students have to complete the telehealth exam, we need to know a lot of further information, including:
- Whether students will get refunds or partial refunds for the $1300+ they have spent to sign up for the exam
- Grading & standards, which clearly need to change from the in-person standards
- Tech support & plans for when tech fails
Continue to voice your concerns and share the petition! We appreciate everyone's support so far and hope we can make a difference in the discussion about Step 2 CS moving forward.