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- Nov 24, 2009
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Step 2 was tedious enough before the lengthening of the exam. Why would anybody feel it is interesting to read MORE examples of bad English Usage...
Dear Question Writer,
Please try to understand that even some of the most common phrases in patient presentation are truly poor English usage..
For example, a phrase from a recent NBME, "A 19 year-old primigravid woman at 39 weeks gestation comes to the physician..." is really not great usage, even though its actual use in the hospital is perhaps quite common.
I can easily point out several English usage issues here, including: 1.) the use of too many vowel heavy words, almost strung together which gives a poor poor quality to its expression, 2.) including, confusingly, two elements describing a "time period" which reference two separate subjects but are adjacent to one another in the sentence, and 3.) the use of the phrase "comes to the physician" which is easily a poor selection for the verb in the sentence, and a poor use of the verb in general.
Please rewrite or remove from the test...
On second thought, please recognize that the adeptness in the English language that the lengthening of the Step 2 exam implies should be recognized as FALSE, and that the usage of English in American Medicine is far lower (if even existent) than what actually occurs, as this example no doubt shows.
Dear Question Writer,
Please try to understand that even some of the most common phrases in patient presentation are truly poor English usage..
For example, a phrase from a recent NBME, "A 19 year-old primigravid woman at 39 weeks gestation comes to the physician..." is really not great usage, even though its actual use in the hospital is perhaps quite common.
I can easily point out several English usage issues here, including: 1.) the use of too many vowel heavy words, almost strung together which gives a poor poor quality to its expression, 2.) including, confusingly, two elements describing a "time period" which reference two separate subjects but are adjacent to one another in the sentence, and 3.) the use of the phrase "comes to the physician" which is easily a poor selection for the verb in the sentence, and a poor use of the verb in general.
Please rewrite or remove from the test...
On second thought, please recognize that the adeptness in the English language that the lengthening of the Step 2 exam implies should be recognized as FALSE, and that the usage of English in American Medicine is far lower (if even existent) than what actually occurs, as this example no doubt shows.
I will stick to medicine, seeing as how I've managed to take all these tests and make it to residency.
