New scoring system for ESRA-DRA Part 2 exam

The Covid pandemic has caused academic institutions and societies to reconsider how to examine candidates. The ESRA-DRA and ESRA board also embraced a new format of online examination for the ESRA-DRA examinations. Furthermore, the international demand of the ESRA-DRA diploma and the number of candidates required to be examined at the annual congress has dramatically increased. It would therefore be impossible and impractical to examine 150 candidates at the annual congress for a 45-minute examination. The logistics would be very challenging for both the examiners and candidates.

Therefore, the ESRA-DRA Part 2 examination is now split into two sections: ESRA-DRA II section A and ESRA-DRA II section B

Section A of the Part 2 examination can be done online at scheduled examination dates as notified on the ESRA-DRA-ESRA website.

The ESRA and ESRA-DRA boards are exploring potential alternative venues for section B of the Part 2 examination.

In the virtual exam room there may be one or two observers present as examiner candidates or inspectors of international educational committees. The exam duration is approximately 25 minutes and you’ll be expected to answer 2 sets of questions with two examiners

ESRA-DRA Part  2 section A consist of an online viva examination which will involve two questions.

Question 1: Discussion of a clinical case

A common clinical case will be discussed. Different plans for anaesthesia and perioperative analgesia (including both systemic and regional techniques) must be presented and the advantages and disadvantages of each must be discussed.

Question 2: Problem-solving of a regional anaesthesia-related complication

A typical regional anaesthesia-related case will be discussed. Candidates must be able to recognise the problem from the case presented, make a differential diagnosis, and present the strategies for problem-solving including a treatment plan and an outcome estimation.

ESRA-DRA Part 2 section B: will only be possible to take at the ESRA annual conference each year or some of the other events organised by ESRA. Section B of ESRA-DRA Part II is approximately a 25-minute examination, therefore 12-13 minutes for each demonstration, with two examiners and occasionally an observer.

Evaluation (scoring system) for ESRA-DRA Part 2 exam (sections A&B)

Section A and B of the part II examination will be evaluated separately. If a candidate fails either section A or B of the Part II examinations, they will have the opportunity to retake only the section that they failed at the next available opportunity. Maximum amount of attempts for each section of the ESRA-DRA 2 exam is three. This mean, that the candidate can take up to three attempts for section A and further three attempts for section B.

Every question will be graded by a competency based system as follows:

Fail (0 points): competencies of participant do not met acceptable standard on competency matrix

Borderline (1 point): competency standards are met by a small margin based on the competency matrix

Clear Pass (2 points):  shows satisfactory or good competency standards

Excellent pass (3 points): participant shows outstanding or excellent competency standards

In order to pass ESRA-DRA Part 2 exam a total of at least 7 points is required for section A and B, of which only one score “borderline” is allowed.

• For example when a candidate has one pass (2) and one borderline (1) question in section A (3points), all questions in part B must have at least a clear pass (4 points).
• If the candidate scores 3 points (2+1) in section A and 3 points (2+1) in section B, he/she will not pass the ESRA-DRA Part 2 exam. One of the sections (A or B) has to be retaken in order to pass the ESRA-DRA exam.
• A second example: when the participant scores borderline for both questions in section A, (2 points), this part has to be retaken since only one borderline grade is allowed.
• Mark “fail” (0 points) in any of the question for section A or section B result in fail of that particular part of the exam. For example if candidate scores in section A exam excellent (3 points) for the first question and fail (0 points) for the second question, he/she will fail the section A of the ESRA-DRA 2 exam and has to repeat the section A.

All venues and dates for the different sections of the examination will be advertised on the ESRA-DRA – ESRA website. Candidates can also visit ESRA-DRA frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Reference:
Shulruf B , Adelstein BA, Damodaran A, Harris P, Kennedy S, O’Sullivan A, Taylor S.: Borderline grades in high stakes clinical examinations: resolving examiner uncertainty. BMC Medical Education (2018) 18:272