Announcing the NBME Exam Support Service (aka: Elf on a Shelf project)

The NMBE Support Service, formerly known as the Elf on a Shelf project, improved the way that MSIS delivers and supports the 3rd and 4th year medical students as they take their end of clerkship exams.

The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) provide assessment tools to certify core competencies in healthcare professionals.  NBME exams are also known as "Shelf" exams, due to their history of sitting on a shelf, until needed.  The assessments are performed at the end of 3rd and 4th year clinical clerkships, and are high-stakes exams with little room for failure.

In the 2014-15 academic year, the examination process was converted from paper to computer-based.  The online process was piloted to determine if the managed computer labs in the Taubman Health Sciences Library were capable of facilitating the exam.  Upon that success, it was then expanded to the 7 clerkships in August of 2015.  Things we learned:  

• Weekly updates of the computer loadset had the capacity to disrupt the exams.  We have developed a process to test updates up to 3 days before the exams, in order to identify any compatibility issues.
• Certification of computers is required before the exam can be run on the computer.  Certification is resource intensive, and takes between 10-20 person hours to complete.
• Exams cost up to $12,000 for an exam week, depending on number of students, and occur every 2-4 weeks in the THSL computer labs.

MSIS provides support to the exam through the Help Me Now Voyager role.  Staff provide certification, assurance, set up, tear down, and proctor support during exams, as well as facilitating the reservations through Schedulon.  The Help Me Now office is across the hallway from the computer labs, and is the first line of support for the facility.

I would like to thank all MSIS staff who have provided assistance with this project, but especially Jason Engling and Sean Quinn, who have been integral in developing the processes, assisting proctors, and providing the knowledge and support necessary to make this project successful.

Documentation and details can be found here: https://wiki.umms.med.umich.edu/x/T4NCCw

regards,

Roger Burns
Service Manager of Customer Experience
Medical School Information Services