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American Medical Technologists (AMT) is a national agency that certifies seven primary designations of health personnel: medical technologists, medical laboratory technicians, office laboratory technicians, medical assistants, medical administrative assistants, phlebotomy technicians, and dental assistants. The organization's purpose is to help protect the welfare of the public by maintaining competency standards in these occupations.
AMT adheres to a number of rigorous criteria regarding the conduct of its credentialing programs. All AMT certification examinations are constructed and administered in accordance with methodologies recognized by both psychometric and credentialing communities.
Purpose of the Certification Examinations
AMT Certification examinations are intended to evaluate the competence of entry-level practitioners. The tests address content areas defined and validated by subject-matter experts, educators, and individuals working in their respective fields. As the tests provide only one source of information regarding examinee competence, they are used in conjunction with other indicators of training and experience in the granting of certification.
Examination Development
The Education, Qualifications, and Standards Committees
Examinations are developed by the Education, Qualifications, and Standards Committees of American Medical Technologists. Each certification designation has a respective committee of subject-matter experts that is responsible for constructing examinations within its discipline. In addition to generating and updating specifications on which the examinations are based, the Committees write test questions and review questions submitted from other sources (questions are submitted by instructors, experts, practitioners, and other individuals associated with a specific occupation). The Committees also determine certification requirements and address standard-setting issues related to their respective credentials. After construction by the expert committees, all examinations are subsequently reviewed and approved by the American Medical Technologists Board of Directors.
The Competency Outlines
American Medical Technologists administers "competency-based" certification examinations. A competency-based testing strategy involves assessing whether or not examinees possess the skills and knowledge required for successful performance in a particular role.
The first step in the development of this type of test is to define the relevant role by listing the areas in which a certificant must be competent. Such a list may include a variety of entries addressing knowledge of procedures, knowledge of theories, and application of theories, in addition to a number of other knowledge and skill-related statements.
In the development of examinations, the Education, Qualifications, and Standards Committee begins by constructing a draft of the competency (or task) inventory. The preliminary list is then circulated to a random sample of practitioners to obtain their input. The competency outlines presented on this site represent the consenses of experts and practitioners regarding the compositions of the respective work roles. (The outlines are actually summaries of more detailed task inventories.)
Once the list of competencies required for successful practice is developed, test questions addressing each competency (or general competency area) are written. The items are then classified in terms of several dimensions and entered into a computerized item bank. As the number of written test questions far exceeds the number of questions allowable on a particular paper-and-pencil test, examinations contain only a sample of items (therefore referencing only a sample of competencies). However, during test construction, the items are drawn from the bank in such a way as to ensure that representative samples of competencies are assessed.
The summary content outlines presented on this site describe the knowledge and task areas considered by American Medical Technologists to comprise the practitioner work roles. Given the development of thorough and appropriate competency lists, and the selection of item samples adequately representing requisite competencies, valid tests for practitioner certification may be constructed. Through the employ of subject-matter experts, practitioner input, and extensive test validation research, American Medical Technologists continually strives to maintain sound, updated examinations.
Examination Format & Content
AMT certification examinations consist of 200-210 four-option, multiple-choice items. Examinees are required to select the single best answer from among the four alternatives. Multiple answers for a single item are scored as incorrect. Test items may require examinees to recall facts, interpret graphic illustrations, interpret information presented in case studies, analyze situations, or solve problems.
The general content outlines for the certification examinations are presented on this site. The percentages of questions indicated for each content area should be considered reliable, but approximate. |
