This month, the third in the series of continuing education programs developed by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) (surgical education and self-assessment program [SESAP]) will be available to subscribers. The Clinical Congress of the College meeting Oct 21-26, 1979, in Chicago, will feature this event with a mini-test as a sample of the program. The SESAP III continues the multiple-choice questions (or items) and syllabus of the previous programs and adds an important new approach to assessment–the patient management program (PMP) format. In addition, the SESAP program is now correlated with the voluntary recertification program of the American Board of Surgery effective July 1980.
The SESAP program, although using the testing methodology of psychometrics, is not a test and is best called an assessment or evaluation. There are no grades or pass-fail levels because the purpose of the program is to provide self-assessment, instruction, and a way in which the