ACEP.org – ABEM Self Assessment Test Goes Live April 5
The majority of doctors are now “Board Certified”, meaning that a certifying board attests that the certified doctor has the requisite training and knowledge for their area. The devil is in the details here, as there are several ‘alternate boards’ which certify docs who didn’t train for the specialty they practice, but who basically did a practice track (experience based) approach. There’s a big mud-fight in that, and I’ll leave it for another day.
My specialty board, the American Board of Emergency Medicine (not an alternative group) is one of the first to start Continuous Certification, yearly tests to make sure their members are keeping up with the literature. I have the study materials, and have been listening to the CD’s reviewing the articles, in preparation.
This is the first year this is in effect, and it’s interesting to see it evolve, as we’re all navigating uncharted waters here. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Well, the OB/GYN docs have been doing this for almost 2 years now. It works really well for them. For my wife at least, it sure beats sitting for recertification boards every 7 years. I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work as well for EM. Personally, though I am not a doc, I would rather see it done this way. It provides motivation for continuous learning instead of only during recert years.