Rypins' Medical Licensure Examinations [antikvár]

preface to the thirteenth editionDuring the years that the thirteenth edition of RYPINS' will be available, we shall be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its availability to physicians who are preparing "for the ordeal of the licensing examination." This is indeed a remarkable achievement for any textbook; and the contemplation that three generations of physiciansgrandparents, parents, and childrenmay have used this textbook to prepare for their same professional licensure provokes a thrilling sense of responsibility and satisfying reflections by the editor and contributors.Initially, this textbook was prepared for those physicians planning to take State Board medical licensure examinations. It consisted of short treatises or summaries of nine major areas in medicine, each followed by typical questions from past examinations. This formát has remained rather constant over the past twelve editions. With the thirteenth edition it remains the same although the number of areas have increased since the first edition to fourteen; however, the reviews are longer and the questions cover a wider rangé in proportion to the increasing knowledge in the respective fields.I suspect that most experts, teachers, students, and specialists in preparing examinations would agree that all examinations have their faults. Nevertheless, licensing examinations remain the only means available for testing objectively the knowledge and competence of individuals to practice the art and science of medicine. As a result, the sophistication of examinations has increased and their scope and objectives have similarly expanded with the additional types of examinations: from the qualifying examination to National Board Examinations, and the several examinations that test the knowledge of practicing physicians worldwide. Each state jealously guards its right to determine which physician should be granted the privilege of practicing medicine within its borders; and, as a result, more than 50 jurisdictions have in the past prepared their own medical licensure examination. So great have been the differences in the kind and quality of these examinations, so low has been the rate of failure in somé states and so high in others, that the interstate recognition of licenses has been found by somé to be unsatisfactory. Indeed, because of the refusal of somé states to accept the licenses of others, serious obstacles have been placed in the way of the interstate movement of physicians.To resolve somé of these difficulties, the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, after somé years of study and research, developed a clinically oriented, reliable examination, the Federation Licensing Examination, that is ofFered to any State Board for its use as its own licensing examination. It is prepared by a committee of the Federation, in collaboration with the National Board of Medical Examiners. Known by the acronym FLEX (Federation Licensing EXamination), this examination is given in all participating states of the United States on the same three days, twice a year, in June and December. By far the largest number of graduates from American medical schools take another series of examinations, not identical to the FLEX, that are offered in three parts by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME): the first is given after the completion of the first two preclinical years in medical school; the second part, which focuses upon clinical medicine, is taken after the second two years; and part III, taken after at least six months of the first postgraduate training year, is an objective test of generál clinical competence. With the Congress today considering health manpower legislation that may affect medical licensure, the use by all states of these high-quality examinations, prepared