Implications of not passing derm boards?

[Sophia88]

There have been a couple failures on the certification exam at my program in recent years and I am interested in what exactly the implications to this are? I know there is concern about insurance carriers dropping you if your not BE and also there may be issues with obtaining malpractice? One of the former residents in this situation is practicing term locally but this may be because they are still within the window of time where they are still BE and can retake. Obviously pass rates are high and the best thing is to do everything possible to pass but I was interested in how severe the ramifications are in the situation someone doesn't? Thanks!

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[dermie1985]

There have been a couple failures on the certification exam at my program in recent years and I am interested in what exactly the implications to this are? I know there is concern about insurance carriers dropping you if your not BE and also there may be issues with obtaining malpractice? One of the former residents in this situation is practicing term locally but this may be because they are still within the window of time where they are still BE and can retake. Obviously pass rates are high and the best thing is to do everything possible to pass but I was interested in how severe the ramifications are in the situation someone doesn't? Thanks!

First off...very few people fail boards. It’s like 10-20 residents nationwide per year. All u need to do is study for the ITE, attend lectures, do some reading, and really try and learn in clinic. You have 3 years to pass an exam u could probably learn to pass in 12 months if u needed to.

Ramifications are not very severe. Almost everyone who fails will pass it the second time....and almost everyone has a job lined up before they even take boards. Just make sure ur contract says board eligible and not board certified. I’m sure there would be more subtle issues though...like ur boss losing confidence in you, etc. And personal pride.