Discussion on Development Status of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dispensing Granules and Survival Strategy of Enterprises / 中国实验方剂学杂志

As an important complementary form of decoction pieces of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）， TCM dispensing granules has the advantages of being free of decoction， easy to take， easy to carry and easy to be dispensed， which greatly improves the capacity of emergency services of TCM and is more in line with the needs of modern society. With the end of the pilot project of TCM dispensing granules， the market has been fully liberalized， the competition has been intensified， and it is in the transition period of switching between the new standard and the old one， and there are some problems such as the shortage of varieties， the change of specifications and the difference of quality， and the production enterprises are facing new opportunities and challenges. Based on this， the authors intend to systematically sort out the policies and regulations， enterprise layout and standard formulation since the pilot of TCM dispensing granules. In view of the problems in the post-pilot stage and from the perspective of survival and development of enterprises， it is suggested that enterprises should establish a quality control system for the whole industry chain of TCM dispensing granules to reduce process costs and increase enterprise competitiveness， further increase the investment in scientific research， overcome the key technical problems of difficult varieties， actively and orderly promote the research of national standards， in order to ensure the integrity of clinical formula varieties， and establish and improve the efficacy evaluation mechanism of TCM dispensing granules， build a consistency evaluation system between TCM dispensing granules and decoction pieces. Government departments should strengthen the guidance， fully mobilize the enthusiasm of scientific research institutions， enterprises and hospitals， and explore the establishment of "government-industry-study-research-application" mode to promote the development of TCM dispensing granule industry.

Relationships between Bloom's taxonomy, judges' estimation of item difficulty and psychometric properties of items from a progress test: a prospective observational study

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Progress tests are longitudinal assessments of students' knowledge based on successive tests. Calibration of the test difficulty is challenging, especially because of the tendency of item-writers to overestimate students' performance. The relationships between the levels of Bloom's taxonomy, the ability of test judges to predict the difficulty of test items and the real psychometric properties of test items have been insufficiently studied. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the psychometric properties of items according to their classification in Bloom's taxonomy and judges' estimates, through an adaptation of the Angoff method. DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective observational study using secondary data from students' performance in a progress test applied to ten medical schools, mainly in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: We compared the expected and real difficulty of items used in a progress test. The items were classified according to Bloom's taxonomy. Psychometric properties were assessed based on their taxonomy and fields of knowledge. RESULTS: There was a 54% match between the panel of experts' expectations and the real difficulty of items. Items that were expected to be easy had mean difficulty that was significantly lower than that of items that were expected to be medium (P < 0.05) or difficult (P < 0.01). Items with high-level taxonomy had higher discrimination indices than low-level items (P = 0.026). We did not find any significant differences between the fields in terms of difficulty and discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that items with high-level taxonomy performed better in discrimination indices and that a panel of experts may develop coherent reasoning regarding the difficulty of items.

Research on quality standards of standard decoction of Fructus Corni piece / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to develop the quality standards of Fructus Corni piece standard decoction. Morroniside and loganin were considered as index components. The content determination method of morroniside and loganin were developed. The fingerprint analysis method was also established. The standard decoctions of 15 batches of Fructus Corni pieces from Henan, Zhejiang, and Shaanxi were analyzed. The similarity values of fingerprint were all above 0.99. The transfer rates of morroniside were all higher than 100%. The quality evaluation indices of standard decoction were discussed. The transfer rate of an index component was not easy to be measured accurately and its concept was not rigorous. Therefore, index component yield was suggested as an evaluation index of standard decoction. Two methods for setting quality standards of standard decoctions, which were the ■ method and the ■ method, were compared. It was found that the standard range of ■ method was wider and more suitable for smaller sample size of standard decoction. The quality standards of Fructus Corni standard decoction were as follows, dry matter extraction ratio 37.48%-69.60%; morroniside yield 8.719-16.19 mg·g~(-1) piece; loganin yield 4.342-8.064 mg·g~(-1) piece.

Comparison of standard-setting methods for the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination: Angoff, Ebel, bookmark, and Hofstee / 보건의료교육평가

PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the possible standard-setting methods for the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination, which has a fixed cut score, and to suggest the most appropriate method. METHODS: Six radiological technology professors set standards for 250 items on the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination administered in December 2016 using the Angoff, Ebel, bookmark, and Hofstee methods. RESULTS: With a maximum percentile score of 100, the cut score for the examination was 71.27 using the Angoff method, 62.2 using the Ebel method, 64.49 using the bookmark method, and 62 using the Hofstee method. Based on the Hofstee method, an acceptable cut score for the examination would be between 52.83 and 70, but the cut score was 71.27 using the Angoff method. CONCLUSION: The above results suggest that the best standard-setting method to determine the cut score would be a panel discussion with the modified Angoff or Ebel method, with verification of the rated results by the Hofstee method. Since no standard-setting method has yet been adopted for the Korean Radiological Technologist Licensing Examination, this study will be able to provide practical guidance for introducing a standard-setting process.

Comparison of results between modified-Angoff and bookmark methods for estimating cut score of the Korean medical licensing examination / 한국의학교육

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to apply alternative standard setting methods for the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE), a criterion-referenced written examination, and to compare them to the conventional cut score used on the KMLE. METHODS: The process and results of criterion-referenced standard settings (i.e., the modified-Angoff and bookmark methods) were evaluated. The ratio of passing and failing examinees determined using these alternative standard setting methods was compared to the results of the conventional criteria. Additionally, the external, internal and procedural evaluation of these methods were reviewed. RESULTS: The modified-Angoff method yielded the highest cut score, followed sequentially by the conventional method and the bookmark method. The classification agreement between the modified-Angoff and bookmark methods was 0.720 measured by Cohen's κ coefficient. The intra-panelist classification consistency of modified-Angoff method was higher than bookmark method. However, the inter-panelist classification consistency was vice versa. The standard setting panelists' survey results showed that the procedures of both methods were satisfactory, but panelists had more confidence in the results of the modified-Angoff method. CONCLUSION: The modified-Angoff method showed results that were more similar to those of the conventional method. Both new methods showed very high concordance with the conventional method, as well as with each other. The modified-Angoff method was considered feasible for adoption on the KMLE. The standard setting panelists responded positively to the modified-Angoff method in terms of its practical applicability, despite certain advantages of the bookmark method.

Implementing standard setting into the Conjoint MAFP/FRACGP Part 1 examination – Process and issues

The College of General Practitioners of Malaysia and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners held the first Conjoint Member of the College of General Practitioners (MCGP)/Fellow of Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) examination in 1982, later renamed the Conjoint MAFP/FRACGP examinations. The examination assesses competency for safe independent general practice and as family medicine specialists in Malaysia. Therefore, a defensible standard set pass mark is imperative to separate the competent from the incompetent.

Reconsidering the Cut Score of Korean National Medical Licensing Examination / 보건의료교육평가

After briefly reviewing theories of standard setting we analyzed the problems of the current cut scores. Then, we reported the results of need assessment on the standard setting among medical educators and psychometricians. Analyses of the standard setting methods of developed countries were reported as well. Based on these findings, we suggested the Bookmark and the modified Angoff methods as alternative methods for setting standard. Possible problems and challenges were discussed when these methods were applied to the National Medical Licensing Examination.

Standard Setting in Student Assessment by Criterion Referenced Evaluation / 한국의학교육

Licensure, credentialling and academic institutions are seeking new innovative approaches to the assessment of professional competence. Central to these recent initiatives is the need to determine standards of performance, which separated the competent from the non-competent candidate. The goal of this study is to introduce the criterion referenced standard-setting methods to medical Schools. The authors used Angoff and Jaeger method, which are the simplest absolute standard setting methods. In this study, the cut-off score estimated by Jaeger method was higher than that of Angoff method.