concerned_peds_partner
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Hi Everyone,
My partner recently completed residency and just finished her initial board certification exam. I think this is relevant to residents and current attendings because it highlights some issues with board certification and the pressures and culture of this profession. I hope we can change things in time for all the next generations of pediatricians to have a better experience than we did.
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I am a partner of a pediatric physician who recently took the pediatric boards and didn't pass with a score of 179. Needless to say, we are both devastated.
I know how hard she worked and how much stress and anxiety this process put her through, and I am so worried about her for the next year. She has already told me she is going to need therapy. She's worried about long-term depression, and imposter syndrome is already kicking in hard. I'll love her till death, and this whole process is breaking my heart.
My partner is a great pediatrician and a great physician. Her co-residents and current colleagues can all attest to this, but I know it will be hard for her to believe that again after these results.
Knowing that one question is going to completely change our lives for the next year is demoralizing, but some part of me as an outsider knows something about the certification process is really, really rotten and wrong.
I've written a petition that I hope many physicians, even ones that passed, would be willing to sign. I believe that the certification process lacks transparency (in terms of material to prepare for as well as the ability for us to learn from negative results).
I also believe there needs to be a simpler solution for people who missed passing on their initial certification to retest. I don't understand why she should have to study the entire domain of pediatrics again for an entire year. I think the ABP should provide a reasonable way for these providers to "close the gap" either with supplemental exams or training that won't force them to bear the full cost of a year-long preparation for the general board exam.
I'm so so mad at the ABP, and I hope no offense is taken by this, but I'm mad at the entire physician training and certification process, from medical school to steps to residency match, to boards, the hoops never end, and all these boards don't seem to actually care how they affect physicians lives.
I have no hope that we can change the process in time for my partner to be affected, and I wouldn't want to dangle that hope in front of her, but I'm so damn angry, sad, and frustrated that I need the ABP to at least speak to improving this process for up and coming physicians.
Here is a link to the petition:
Sign the Petition
Please let me know your thoughts! I'd love to change it or collaborate on this if people have ideas that can actually impact this field for the better.
Here is what I would like the ABP to respond to:
If we get no response, I believe the best recourse is to rally around our training institutions. Vocal support from residency programs could bolster our effort to make the certification process a better one. Another nuclear option is to protest signing up for the board exam for all incoming residents next year. If no one signs up to take their test, I can't imagine that the ABP would not respond.
My partner recently completed residency and just finished her initial board certification exam. I think this is relevant to residents and current attendings because it highlights some issues with board certification and the pressures and culture of this profession. I hope we can change things in time for all the next generations of pediatricians to have a better experience than we did.
---------------------------------
I am a partner of a pediatric physician who recently took the pediatric boards and didn't pass with a score of 179. Needless to say, we are both devastated.
I know how hard she worked and how much stress and anxiety this process put her through, and I am so worried about her for the next year. She has already told me she is going to need therapy. She's worried about long-term depression, and imposter syndrome is already kicking in hard. I'll love her till death, and this whole process is breaking my heart.
My partner is a great pediatrician and a great physician. Her co-residents and current colleagues can all attest to this, but I know it will be hard for her to believe that again after these results.
Knowing that one question is going to completely change our lives for the next year is demoralizing, but some part of me as an outsider knows something about the certification process is really, really rotten and wrong.
I've written a petition that I hope many physicians, even ones that passed, would be willing to sign. I believe that the certification process lacks transparency (in terms of material to prepare for as well as the ability for us to learn from negative results).
I also believe there needs to be a simpler solution for people who missed passing on their initial certification to retest. I don't understand why she should have to study the entire domain of pediatrics again for an entire year. I think the ABP should provide a reasonable way for these providers to "close the gap" either with supplemental exams or training that won't force them to bear the full cost of a year-long preparation for the general board exam.
I'm so so mad at the ABP, and I hope no offense is taken by this, but I'm mad at the entire physician training and certification process, from medical school to steps to residency match, to boards, the hoops never end, and all these boards don't seem to actually care how they affect physicians lives.
I have no hope that we can change the process in time for my partner to be affected, and I wouldn't want to dangle that hope in front of her, but I'm so damn angry, sad, and frustrated that I need the ABP to at least speak to improving this process for up and coming physicians.
Here is a link to the petition:
Sign the Petition
Please let me know your thoughts! I'd love to change it or collaborate on this if people have ideas that can actually impact this field for the better.
Here is what I would like the ABP to respond to:
- Avenues for failed test takers to "close the gap" and make up their score
- A transparent content outline that enables test takers to focus on what will help them pass
- Transparency in score reports, outlining the specific content that was missed.
If we get no response, I believe the best recourse is to rally around our training institutions. Vocal support from residency programs could bolster our effort to make the certification process a better one. Another nuclear option is to protest signing up for the board exam for all incoming residents next year. If no one signs up to take their test, I can't imagine that the ABP would not respond.
