Abstract
Purpose :
The Ophthalmic Knowledge Assessment Program (OKAP) exam is a national test given to ophthalmology residents in each year of training to assess resident knowledge and improve education. It has also been shown, especially in the third year of residency, to predict likelihood of success on the Written Qualifying Examination given by the American Board of Ophthalmology to graduated residents. We aimed to investigate the relationship between ophthalmology resident performance on the OKAP exam and weekly quizzes assessing ophthalmic knowledge given at our institution. We hypothesize that average weekly quiz scores correlate with performance on the OKAP exam.
Methods :
OKAP examination scores and average annual quiz scores from ophthalmology residents at a single academic institution were evaluated over a nine-year period from 2011-2019. The number of quizzes given per academic year ranged from 29-33 with all topics, as indicated by subtests subjects on the OKAP exam institution score report, being tested. Quizzes were standardized throughout. Residents’ scaled scores (relative to all other residents taking the exam of the same year) as reported on the OKAP exam institution score report were used. Pearson’s correlation test with alpha set to 0.05 and regression analysis were performed for statistical analysis.
Results :
108 average annual quiz scores (M= 6.69, SD=0.99) and associated OKAP scaled examination scores (M=577.87, SD=71.84) were evaluated from 45 different ophthalmology residents. There is a significant positive relationship between average quiz results and scaled score on the OKAP exams, r = 0.66 (p < 0.001). Residents who scored higher, on average, on weekly quizzes scored higher on the OKAP exam.
Conclusions :
Weekly quiz scores at a single institution strongly correlated with resident OKAP scaled scores. At our institution, weekly quiz scores may be used to evaluate resident knowledge prior to OKAP exams. Such continued evaluation may lead to early identification and intervention for at risk residents. Weekly internal assessment methods may be useful in predicting resident success on national OKAP exams.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.