Why October?

[Perrotfish]

Does anyone else hate the fact that boards happen over one week in October? To me there are really two reasonable philosophies for a board exam:

1) Boards test the knowledge you gained in residency. By this logic you should take it at the end of residency in June or early July. Its a way of holding residencies accountable while keeping your training from bleeding into your real job

2) Boards are something you study for. By this logic you should give people a lot of time outside of the grind of residency to study for boards. Like six months. Or a year

October of year 1 is the worst possible time. I'm starting out as an attending, when I most need to be reading on every patient and least have the time to focus on anything else, and I'm spending every waking moment memorizing metabolic disorders so obscure I never encountered them once during my three years in a tertiary medical center. WTF?

Maybe the ABP should create another three year fellowship to study the issue.

/rant

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[jonb12997]

Sounds like a good part 4 MOC project! ;-) ha!
I do agree with you. I was lucky that my first job was a Hospitalist position. I worked 50% overnights so I got a lot of my studying done between admits and consults.
The Osteopathic Peds boards are in April.... In case that applies to anyone.

 

[Stitch]

I'm very glad they aren't in July because I'd have no time to study for them. If they had been as late as six months, I wouldn't have been able to do anything else due to anxiety and studying. So three months out seems like the right balance to get the right amount of study time.

That said, I agree that the ABP needs a reality check, because they aren't relevant to real practice. And don't get me started on part 4.

 

[drkristy85]

We need to join forces with IM and Anesthesia in changing/getting rid of MOC and especially part 4. I already wrote to the ABP about it.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

There is no one right time. For those doing subspecialty fellowships waiting until the spring would be a long time past residency to remember a lot of stuff. Right after residency graduation would have it's own challenges

MOC, esp part 4, should die.

 

[BigRedBeta]

1) Boards test the knowledge you gained in residency.

I'm spending every waking moment memorizing metabolic disorders so obscure I never encountered them once during my three years in a tertiary medical center. WTF?
/rant

That explains it all right there for your first theory.

Personally I think the stress is getting to you. Totally understandable, but I think it's making you lash out at the wrong thing which is the timing.
- No one forces you to sign up for boards to take them immediately after finishing residency.
- Every pediatrician has to take them in October.
- Be glad you're a general peds attending where you're likely encountering mostly things you've seen before and not a fellow who is in process of having to learn new things just to do their job...

The bigger issue and what may actually help your stress is to remember that the board exam is not testing you on good of a pediatrician you are. It's just a test to say that you've met a certain set of arbitrary standards. And unlike say, Internal Medicine where I've been told the boards are actually a test of knowledge applicable in day to day general internal medicine practice, in Peds, that's simply not the case. It seems as though the exam is instead concocted by a group of subspecialists over things they think people should know, and they seem to forget context very easily.

But it will all be over soon, and the ABP is at least looking at joining anesthesia with the concept of the ongoing MOC process rather than the isolated exam...the rest of it remains terrible.

 

[michigangirl]

They found the compromise between the two options you list above. It's an exam you must study for-- no question. But also an exam where residency knowledge is very helpful. So October is the best bet. I expect my PICU fellows to hit the ground running after the boards. Beforehand if they have weeks of service obviously they put their all in for patient care. I know they will read the literature after their boards.

 

[Perrotfish]

They found the compromise between the two options you list above..

Its like compromising between the right side of the train tracks and the left, by walking down the middle.

 

[Perrotfish]

Happy boards week everyone!!