2005 SAAAPA Challenge Bowl

Call for Questions

Barbara Carter
SAAAPA Staff Advisor

The Student Academy of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (SAAAPA) wants your help! New questions are needed for the upcoming SAAAPA National Medical Challenge Bowl in Orlando, Florida. We are asking each program to submit 20 questions by March 25th.

Because the Medical Challenge Bowl is an oral competition, questions that may be excellent on written examinations may not be appropriate for use in the Challenge Bowl. When selecting your questions, please keep in mind the unique way in which they will be used.

The following hints may be helpful when preparing questions:

• Questions should ideally be written in the form of open-ended questions with only one, clear answer.
• True/false questions are not appropriate.
• Treatment-oriented questions are generally problematic because many variations in a condition exist, and treatment opinions vary.
• Diagnostic questions should present the “textbook” case and include as many details as possible to avoid the controversy of an unclear diagnosis.
• Questions and, ideally, answers should be as short as possible.
• Questions pertaining to specific populations (e.g., pediatrics, orthopedics) should be stated explicitly.
• Multiple-choice questions should be avoided.

Please submit your questions, answers, and references electronically to bcarter@aapa.org. If you have questions, call me at 703/836-2272, ext. 3311. Thank you for your help in contributing to the continued success of the 15th Annual National Medical Challenge Bowl — a conference favorite of students and faculty alike

APAP Update - January 2005