Preguntas de emparejamiento ampliado como herramienta de evaluación y recurso didáctico

Background: higher medical education needs the utilization of assessment tools and didactical resources that promote logical reasoning in students. In the publication on assessment of the National Board of Medical Examiners of United States there is a whole section devoted to extended matching questions. There is no available information in Cuban scientific publications regarding the use of this modality in higher medical education. Objective: to describe the characteristics of extended matching questions as an assessment tool and a didactic resource to develop logical reasoning in medical sciences students. Methods: narrative review on extended matching questions in undergraduate and graduate medical education. A search was carried out in the data bases PubMed/Medline, PubMed Central and Google Academic using as descriptors extended matching question and extended matching item, and also with the same terms in Spanish in SciELO Cuba, SciELO Regional and in Redined, a data base of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain. Results: the definition, structure, requisites, attributes and applications of this modality of objective test questions in medical sciences are described. There is agreement in their usefulness for clinical subjects’ assessments. They are widely used in medical sciences education, undergraduate and graduate, in Anglophone countries. An analysis of their disadvantages and advantages is carried out. Among the first, the poor or null experience of faculty and the complexity and time demanded in their construction, and among the second, mainly that they require and promote logical reasoning of the students. Quality assurance in their design is emphasized. Conclusions: extended matching questions attributes point to their usefulness as an assessment tool and as a didactic resource to promote logical reasoning in medical sciences undergraduate and graduate students. DeCS: EXAMINATION QUESTIONS; EVALUATION; EDUCATION, MEDICAL; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES; REVIEW LITERATURE AS TOPIC.