'GP Exam Unfair To Minorities'

[peteneras]

I find it quite worrying about this report. So do you think the UK GP exam is ‘unfair to minorities’?

There is lots of evidence that when names appear on exam papers, there was discrimination on the basis of both sex and ethnicity. This is why where ever possible most universities mark by candidate number.

Often the marker was not deliberately women or minority-ethnic candidates down, but their implicit presumptions about groups in society impacted on the marks given.

This test can't be anonymous, hence it it is still likely to be subjected to biases of examiners.

Similar issues arise in recruitment which is why some employers now separate personal information from the rest of the application form when selecting for interview.

Do all UK GPs sit the same exam? I only ask because our surgery doesn't bare that out. We have a very low number of minorities in our area but have two UK, two foreign international and two European GPs in our surgery.

There are different routes to practicing in the UK for doctors trained overseas.

There is a clinical skills assessment, (simulated surgeries) so communication is taken into account not just names on papers. I haven't had time to read all about it though

I think the answer is for the test to videoed. It would make it possible for a test to be re assessed if there are allegations of racism. It would also be possible to assess the assessors so that racial bias of examiners are spotted.

I would be curious to know the stats of those who have english as a 2nd language and those who don't to see if that has any bearing on the results. Written papers that are harder to understand because they don't flow as well (though may be more grammatically correct) and people more difficult to understand would generally get lower marks because it is just harder work to examine them.

I'm sure blind tests on written exams should that poor spelling and weak english did result in lower marks even when they weren't supposed to this was at GCSE level though.

It is not the written exams that is the issue in the GPs case.

In qualifications more generally, it is pretty clear that the bias of the examiners has a huge impact on results, even when they do not believe themselves to be bias IYKWIM