Clinical Skills Assessment for Medical Students

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) affirms the critical importance of comprehensive and standardized assessment of medical students’ clinical skills throughout their education and at the time of graduation. Medical schools are responsible for ensuring that all graduates demonstrate competency in core clinical skills, including conducting patient evaluations, physical exams and accurate and thorough documentation of medical history and patient encounters.

Medical schools should use evidence-based instructional and assessment methods, such as standardized patient simulations, to teach and assess these skills. Institutions must:

• Provide comprehensive clinical skills training,
• Implement consistent and standardized assessment protocols,
• Conduct evaluations on a reliable and regular basis,
• Deliver actionable and transparent feedback to learners,
• Provide structured remediation for students requiring additional support to achieve competency.

If a national clinical skills exam is required for graduation, residency applications, or licensure, the AAFP supports efforts to:

• Minimize financial and logistical barriers for all candidates, including international medical graduates and those needing test accommodations.
• Regularly update and publicly disseminate performance standards.
• Ensure clinical skills exams are consistently reproducible and routinely evaluated for the absence of bias.
• Publish outcomes data demonstrating the effectiveness of these examinations in assessing competence and make data-informed adjustments as needed.
• Establish pass rates based on demonstrated competency rather than fixed percentages.

State medical licensing requirements should align with national clinical skills assessment standards.

(2010 COD) (April 2026 BOD)