5615 North Cumberland Avenue • Chicago, IL 60631 • (773) 693-5800

Clinical Skills Evaluation USMLE

Hotel room are available at a rate of $85.00 + tax.   Click Clinical Skills Holiday Inn O'Hare to book your rooms now.  Rate includes full hot breakfast buffet daily, complimentary Hi-Speed Internet Access for study, as well as free airport transportation, and transport to and from the ECFMG Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) Center, just 1 block away.  All guest rooms at the Holiday Inn Chicago O'Hare are fully equipped with refrigerator and microwave. Bar Louie Grill right on site. ECFMG Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA) evaluates your ability to gather and interpret clinical patient data and communicate effectively in the English language. The CSA consists of ten, eleven, or twelve stations, ten of which are scored; in each station you will encounter a standardized patient (SP), a lay person trained to realistically and consistently portray a patient. The SPs will respond to your questions with answers appropriate to the patient being portrayed and will react appropriately to physical maneuvers. You will be expected to proceed through each encounter with an SP as you would with a real patient.

The CSA assesses whether you can obtain a relevant medical history, perform a focused physical exam and compose a written record of the patient encounter. The CSA requires that you demonstrate proficiency in spoken English, which will be evaluated by the standardized patients you encounter in the test stations. The CSA is administered only in English.

The date of your most recent passing performance on the CSA will appear on your Standard ECFMG Certificate. This CSA Date is valid for three years from the date passed for the purpose of entering a program of graduate medical education in the United States. If your CSA Date expires before you enter a U.S. program of graduate medical education, you must revalidate your CSA Date before you may enter such a program. You can revalidate the CSA Date for an additional three-year period by passing a subsequent CSA. Once you enter a program of graduate medical education in the United States, the CSA Date is no longer subject to expiration, and you may request permanent validation of your CSA Date.

Comprehensive information on CSA is available in the ECFMG Information Booklet and the CSA Candidate Orientation Manual.

(USMLE Information)