The United States Medical Licensing Board has announced that there will be new items added to the Step 2 CK examination as early as August 3, 2011. These new items’ formats will assess an examinee's ability to appropriately interpret information presented both in the form of a research abstract and a pharmaceutical advertisement.
Students should be prepared to be able to analyze a pharmaceutical advertisement and answer multiple choice questions about the following areas as related to the pharmaceutical covered in the ad:
a) Biostastistics/epidemiology
b) Pharmacology/therapeutics
c) Development and approval of drugs and dietary supplements
d) Medical ethics
e) Decisions about individual patient care
In addition, students will be asked to interpret a clinical or experimental research abstract and answer questions related to:
a) Biostatistics/epidemiology
b) Use of diagnostic studies
c) Pharmacology/therapeutics
d) Decisions about patient care
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