Step 1 Mania: The Case for #USMLEPassFail

Last week, I gave a Grand Rounds presentation at my institution on #USMLEPassFail. Many of you have asked me to share the slides or video, so I made a podcast and uploaded it to The Sheriff of Sodium’s brand new YouTube channel. Check out the lecture here! A couple of things: I managed to get […]

What can the NFL Draft teach us about residency selection?

The NFL Draft will take place April 25-27, 2019. Being selected to play football at the highest echelon of the sport is obviously very different than matching into a residency program. And yet, amidst the breathless analysis, hot takes, and bold predictions by talking heads on ESPN, I can’t help thinking about residency selection. See, […]

Stonewalled: A brief update on InCUS, the NBME, and financial COI

Last month, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) co-sponsored the Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS) to determine the future of Step 1 scoring. Should results be reported as a three-digit score, or pass/fail? However, as I’ve discussed before, “Step 1 Mania” fuels a number of highly profitable sideline businesses for the NBME – […]

What’s on USMLE Step 1?

Recently, I was on The Accad and Koka Report to share my opinions on USMLE Step 1 scoring policy. (If you’re interested, you can listen to the episode on the show website or iTunes.) Most of the topics we discussed were ones I’ve already dissected on this site. But there was an interesting moment in […]

InCUS Wrap

Chirp chirp. Did you hear that? It’s the sound of crickets chirping. Other than the vapid and generic official statement, that’s about the only sound that came out of the USMLE’s Invited Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS), held earlier this week in Philadelphia. For a conference addressing an issue that will affect all of us […]

The InCUS is coming – are we ready?

If you have been following the USMLE Pass/Fail debate, you should know that the final battle is upon us. The InCUS is nigh. WHAT THE HECK IS THE InCUS? It’s the Invitational Conference on USMLE Scoring (InCUS), to be held in Philadelphia, PA, on March 11-12, 2019. WHAT’S AT STAKE? Why, nothing less than the […]

The Mythology of USMLE Step 1 Scores and Board Certification

There’s a persistent objection to making USMLE Step 1 pass/fail that goes something like this: Dear Sheriff, When you suggest that we should make USMLE Step 1 pass/fail, you overlook one very important thing. See, I’m a program director, and if my residents don’t pass their boards, my program will get shut down. Whatever failings […]