2017 ABA ITE Results

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MaximusD

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Anyone get their results yet?

I'm guessing end of this week or beginning of next...

Anyone have any intel otherwise?

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Looking forward to hearing. Our program reimburses Basic exam registration if we exceed 70th %ile. Would be nice to have $775 extra dollars...
 
Anyone get their results yet?

I'm guessing end of this week or beginning of next...

Anyone have any intel otherwise?

Heard a rumor from my attending that our scores came in last week. Dunno why they aren't released yet.
 
No they haven't. those that took the first round of Oral Exams found out last week if they passed or not. ITE's have NOT been released/sent...
 
I am almost positive we didn't get results the past 3 years before April. Expect something next week.
 
I emailed the ABA, they told me ITE results would be released "by mid April". I'm hoping for next week, but who knows. It's been a long 6 weeks!
 
Jesus mid-April!? They told me 4-6 weeks when I called two weeks ago. "mid" April would be 7-8 weeks -- to grade a computerized test!
 
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Jesus mid-April!? They told me 4-6 weeks when I called two weeks ago. "mid" April would be 7-8 weeks -- to grade a computerized test!

Chill out my flight surgeon brother..

Results will be out next week, usually tue-wed

- ex 61N
 
Chill out my flight surgeon brother..

Results will be out next week, usually tue-wed

- ex 61N

*breathes into paper bag*

giphy.gif
 
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No they haven't. those that took the first round of Oral Exams found out last week if they passed or not. ITE's have NOT been released/sent...

ah ok, it didn't sound right. he said they were released to our advisors. damn attendings trolling residents again...
 
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Another resident in my class emailed the ABA yesterday to ask, they told him results will come the week of April 10th, just to temper expectations about next week. :eyebrow:
 
Looking forward to hearing. Our program reimburses Basic exam registration if we exceed 70th %ile. Would be nice to have $775 extra dollars...

Your program should be paying for this regardless
 
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My program doesn't pay for the basic.

Mine didn't pay for any exams - which I suspect is the norm these days... and I think it's exploitative. The financial impact of a department paying for trainees' exams is trivial, and the soul suck and financial hardship of residents paying for endless needless exams is huge. IMO residencies should pay for every exam regardless of performance, along with medical licensing & DEA fees.
 
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Mine didn't pay for any exams - which I suspect is the norm these days... and I think it's exploitative. The financial impact of a department paying for trainees' exams is trivial, and the soul suck and financial hardship of residents paying for endless needless exams is huge. IMO residencies should pay for every exam regardless of performance, along with medical licensing & DEA fees.

That sounds nice. Can I also get 8 vacation weeks per year? LOL
 
My program doesn't pay for the basic.

My program purchased a subscription to an online course called Learnly, by Stanford. If we have 90% completion of the daily modules, the Basic Exam is paid for. Seems fair, but a subscription to a qbank or two would probably be more helpful. That being said, I'm happy to hear that my program is one of the few that actually pays for the basic.
 
financial impact of a department paying for trainees' exams is trivial

Perhaps for small programs but those with 20+ it gets to be an aggressive cost.

I'm a fan of those programs which tag a benchmark on ITE performance to a partial or full reimbursement for Basic/Advanced. It's a nice carrot to offer and has an indirect effect of beefing up a program's ITE scores, particularly in CA-3 year. It might even increase pass rates on boards by "strongly suggesting" they start studying earlier and with earnest. Not all programs can afford this, especially if it's a huge program, but a partial reimbursement could help.
 
Perhaps for small programs but those with 20+ it gets to be an aggressive cost.

I'm a fan of those programs which tag a benchmark on ITE performance to a partial or full reimbursement for Basic/Advanced. It's a nice carrot to offer and has an indirect effect of beefing up a program's ITE scores, particularly in CA-3 year. It might even increase pass rates on boards by "strongly suggesting" they start studying earlier and with earnest. Not all programs can afford this, especially if it's a huge program, but a partial reimbursement could help.

The total cost is a bigger number, but I have a hard time believing that even big programs couldn't do it without much thought. I'm at a bigger program and could easily find at least one crna/day to force-off to cover that cost. @$100-110/hr (their rumored wage), it wouldn't take more than a few weeks of empty lounges to "afford" paying for these exams
 
I heard a rumor from one of our faculty members who was at an ABA meeting April 10th was the score release date.
 
The expectation of programs paying for exams and fees appears to be a millennial thing. The best solution would be a participation trophy instead.
 
imo ABA's examintations are kind of a joke. 6-8 week turnaround time on a computerized test? I don't understand what could possibly take that long. Also, too many questions that are irrelevant to clinical practice, as well as exploitively high examination fees. ABA has plenty of ways to make money beside charging residents/fellows huge fees. Not a big fan of ABA's current exam structure at all
 
imo ABA's examintations are kind of a joke. 6-8 week turnaround time on a computerized test? I don't understand what could possibly take that long. Also, too many questions that are irrelevant to clinical practice, as well as exploitively high examination fees. ABA has plenty of ways to make money beside charging residents/fellows huge fees. Not a big fan of ABA's current exam structure at all

It's only getting worse with the OSCE component being introduced. The ACGME Step 3 CS has been on-going for years but was little more than an English test. I imagine this is going to be something along the lines of "can you apply the standard monitors and do a machine check".
 
The expectation of programs paying for exams and fees appears to be a millennial thing. The best solution would be a participation trophy instead.

Grumbling about exam fees might appear to the old farts like a millennial attitude problem, but the real issue is that young docs are much more financially screwed than the generations that went before.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am drowning in medical school debt and I cringe every time I have to fork over another stack of cash just to jump through another hoop. There are more hoops than there used to be and they cost more and more each year. You can keep your trophy, just stop squeezing the young trainees who are in a much worse financial position than many older physicians. I am upset that they keep adding insult to injury. With things like MOCA and the revision of the board exam schedule (ie, creating a basic exam) the trend is that the ABA is pushing the limit of how frequently they can mug me and empty my wallet. They are in good company with insurance, government, lawyers, and others who have decided that doctors are an easy scapegoat and source of cash to fund their own agendas.

I expect this will continue and only get worse throughout my career. the over-regulation of healthcare is oppressive and our specialty is caught up in the thick of it.

Would I like my program to pay my exam fees? Give me a participation trophy? Nope. I wish they would just tell the ABA to shove it and administer their own exam. How would we be able to compare outcomes across programs? We couldn't, so we wouldn't. Board exam scores are not a comprehensive indication of the quality of training received, so maybe we should stop pretending like they are. At the least, let's move into the modern era and stop making oral board examinees fly to North Carolina when video conferencing technology is literally sitting in our pockets. Or how about scoring a computerized exam in a fashion that returns a result faster than the Pony Express?

So on that happy note, can't wait to get my ITE score. I am just hoping to get the portion of my annual education fund that is held hostage until these scores come out. Get above the 50th percentile or no $$$ for you. Even though we don't pay directly, there are always hidden costs. Such is life.
 
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Got my results today and I am not happy at all as a CA3...
 
It's only getting worse with the OSCE component being introduced. The ACGME Step 3 CS has been on-going for years but was little more than an English test. I imagine this is going to be something along the lines of "can you apply the standard monitors and do a machine check".

I talked to my PD, he just got back from some meeting where they were talking about the OSCE. It's going to be 7 stations, 5/7 are for "communication skills" Informed consent, discussion with surgeon, complication following procedure etc. The other two stations are going to be scenarios, they still don't know how those are going to work. Still sounds like step 3, making sure you can speak english and that you're not a total creeper
 
I talked to my PD, he just got back from some meeting where they were talking about the OSCE. It's going to be 7 stations, 5/7 are for "communication skills" Informed consent, discussion with surgeon, complication following procedure etc. The other two stations are going to be scenarios, they still don't know how those are going to work. Still sounds like step 3, making sure you can speak english and that you're not a total creeper
Oh :smack: what a waste of time.

Make sure you wash your hands upon entering and exiting the room. I guarantee that's on their little checklist.
 
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Norm table
 

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  • 2017-Guideline-Norm-Table.pdf
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My chair mentioned he was in a good mood today because he had just seen our ite scores....Looks like ours are probably coming next week

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Looking at the norm table, scores have skyrocketed across the board in the past two years! A CA-3 would now have to score a perfect 50 just to sniff the 99th percentile (which I didn't lol). Looking at the score report, they only counted 196 of the 200 questions, and I think you could miss ~20 (maybe slightly fewer) to get a perfect score, for the neurotic souls among us who worry about this stuff. People must be preparing for this stuff a lot more than in previous years... My score went up but my percentile went down. Doesn't matter, I'm riding the CA3 train to the promised land :D
 
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