Amended eAT exam to be introduced this spring
More places will be available this year for the eAT exam, which is a prerequisite for applying for registration as a foundation doctor. In previous years, not all applicants in different parts of the country have been able to sit the exam. Now, the exam will be held in two cities – Malmö and Stockholm – and on a new day of the week.
The AT board at Karolinska Institutet has responsibility for quality-assuring and producing the eAT exam in Sweden along with all other medical training institutes. Previously, the exam has been held at 18 different places around the country simultaneously.
“Around 450 to 550 foundation doctors sit the exam each time and it’s been hard to guarantee places at every place where it’s being held,” explains Andreas Carlborg, docent, consultant and chair of the AT-board.
Two cities
The board has carried out an analysis of how to address this and other issues, such as access to places, serviceable technology and crowding at the exam centres. It has also drawn up criteria for what constitutes a suitable exam room, which must be quiet, arranged in such a way as precludes cheating and have sufficient capacity for the number of participants enrolled. On the day itself, trained technical staff and an adequate number of invigilators/supervisors must be available for the exam to take place.
“The solution we’ve come up with means, in a nutshell, that we can now guarantee the right about of seats at an exam, but at fewer locations,” says Dr Carlborg. “This is because it’s not possible to get the digital side of the exam to work in all exam halls or even at all universities in Sweden. We’ve had talks with the Swedish Junior Doctors’ Association (SYLF) and come to the conclusion that this is the best way forward compared to the risk of having too few places available at future exams.”
Change of day
The exam will also be held on a Monday instead of a Friday, again in order to be able to guarantee a sufficient number of places.
“We’re sorry, of course, if this means individual foundation doctors will have the inconvenience of a long journey, but we hope that having enough places for future foundation doctors will make up for it,” says Dr Carlborg.
For a doctor in Sweden, a pass on the eAT exam means that the candidate has met the national knowledge requirements for a medical internship (AT). An exam certificate and a completed internship are required by all doctors wishing to apply for a medical licence from the National Board of Health and Welfare.
The next eAT exam this year will be held on 18 May. The enrolment period is from 8 April to 15 April. Enrol for the eAT exam