An evaluation of the impact of country of primary medical qualification on performance in the UK Royal College of Anaesthetists' examinations.

Many junior doctors from around the world come to the UK to train and attend professional examinations. This study summarises the performance of graduates by country of primary medical qualification in part one of the UK Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCA) examination from 1999 to 2008. Data were collated from RCA spreadsheets for each attempt of the primary examination from June 1999 to May 2008 from the main RCA trainee database. Candidates were ranked into groups according to the country of primary medical qualification for the overall final percentage mark of the multiple choice question section of the Primary Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists examination. Candidates from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the UK performed significantly better than the mean for the group and candidates from Egypt, Iraq, Ireland and Pakistan performed significantly worse. Some graduates who sit UK postgraduate exams may require additional support prior to taking these examinations.