i am finishing IM residency in june and considering waiting until 2010 to take IM boards. i am applying to fellowship this year and will likely work as a hospitalist for a year prior to fellowship. does anybody know if not having taken boards yet has any bearing on getting a hospitalist position? from what i've seen on job listings they all say you only have to be board certified OR board eligible. besides being further out from residency and therefore potentially forgetting some of the things you learned, does anybody see any other downsides to delaying boards for a year? my schedule toward the end of the academic year and my financial situation make taking boards this year a bit of a stressful situation which is why i want to wait if i can. any input appreciated.

Well, I waited a year to take boards, but I knew I was doing a research year so it didn't matter if I took them vs. not. However, I'd recommend to just take it if there's any way you can. People are kind of weird about it and they'll start asking you if you took it yet...and if you say no, some people might think you failed. It's stupid b/c I too felt like I was too broke to take it right away, and really I was just tired of doing tests/evaluations for the time being. However, you'll be busy in fellowship too, and might not feel like taking it them. I think you can get a hospitalist job without taking the test though, if that's your question. It's actually not very hard to pass the IM boards and as long as you study some, you should pass without a problem unless you are just a horrible test taker.

Well, I waited a year to take boards, but I knew I was doing a research year so it didn't matter if I took them vs. not. However, I'd recommend to just take it if there's any way you can. People are kind of weird about it and they'll start asking you if you took it yet...and if you say no, some people might think you failed. It's stupid b/c I too felt like I was too broke to take it right away, and really I was just tired of doing tests/evaluations for the time being. However, you'll be busy in fellowship too, and might not feel like taking it them. I think you can get a hospitalist job without taking the test though, if that's your question. It's actually not very hard to pass the IM boards and as long as you study some, you should pass without a problem unless you are just a horrible test taker.


which people do you mean were asking you about it? the problem for me is that i'm going to be busy with interviews, etc in the spring and then i'm on service in may and june, so on call q4 and it seems those are the prime studying months. i'm sure i'll be busy during the start of fellowship too, but at least i can start studying early and have most of my prep done prior to starting fellowship. that's where i'm coming from on it. i guess if i have to explain it to anybody who asks i can just say it like that and explain that i waited so that they know i didn't fail it. what do you think?

Some other doctors, maybe some job applications will ask...but you can just say you're board eligible. Some moonlighting jobs or urgent care places only want board certified folks, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. You can just do what I did - tell them it cost too much money, you missed the signup deadline (like I did), didn't have time to study for it this year, etc. It doesn't matter for most startup jobs/hospitalist positions, b/c nobody interviewing for those has had a chance to take boards yet.

You can take the boards in August, I think late or mid August was when I did...so even if you don't study until July, you'll still pass. You really don't have to study for it to the extent you did for USMLE's, though, unless you have a lot of pride and just want a high score. Nobody will ever ask you for your scores, that I know of...they only care if you pass.

But if you don't want to take it this year, then don't. It's not such a huge deal.

i am finishing IM residency in june and considering waiting until 2010 to take IM boards. i am applying to fellowship this year and will likely work as a hospitalist for a year prior to fellowship. does anybody know if not having taken boards yet has any bearing on getting a hospitalist position? from what i've seen on job listings they all say you only have to be board certified OR board eligible. besides being further out from residency and therefore potentially forgetting some of the things you learned, does anybody see any other downsides to delaying boards for a year? my schedule toward the end of the academic year and my financial situation make taking boards this year a bit of a stressful situation which is why i want to wait if i can. any input appreciated.

Just take the boards (pass rate from a decent residency is like > 95%). You usually have some time between residency and the actual test to take them so you can study if you need but it really isn't that bad.

Get them over with and you won't have to study for boards during your fellowship.

-If you are really considering delaying taking the test, I would recommend asking your prospective employers what their policies are on board certification. It is important for certain insurance situations so call to make sure.

boF

Just take the boards (pass rate from a decent residency is like > 95%). You usually have some time between residency and the actual test to take them so you can study if you need but it really isn't that bad.

Get them over with and you won't have to study for boards during your fellowship.

-If you are really considering delaying taking the test, I would recommend asking your prospective employers what their policies are on board certification. It is important for certain insurance situations so call to make sure.

boF

i've contacted a few hospitalist recruiting companies and they all say that you just have to board eligible and have to pass boards within 3 or 5 years for these jobs. have you heard differently?

If you start intensively studying now, and haven't been a total slacker during residency, you should be OK for the IM boards this year. Do MedStudy/MKSAP questions, sign up for a good board review class, and read read read as much as possible whenever you can.

IMHO it's usually best to take the medicine boards after finishing residency, unless you're going to be doing something really cush after graduation. Even then, it's usually best to just get it over with.

There isn't a better time to study than third year of the IM residency, no matter how bad the schedule is. I had a lousy schedule near the end of my residency also, and had to be really compulsive about finding free time to study. I managed to take and pass the IM boards during my 1st year of fellowship - as expected there was very little study time after July 1st but I had done enough reading by that point that it was just mostly review up until the actual board exam.

Good luck.

Just take them now. Don't postpone the pain. You might think you don't have enough time to study, but if you paid attention during residency, read occasionally, and do some MKSAP you should be fine. If you are going to be working as a hospitalist after residency, you could potentially be week on/week off, and can use that off time to study (if you plan on starting work before boards in Aug).

i had an attending who said, you know 95% of what you'll ever know at the end of yoru 2nd year of residency.

i know 2 guys in my residency program who didn't sign up for the boards last year (missed the deadline), who have told me flat out they wish they had taken it last summer after residency.

are the boards difficult? they can be a challenge, but they're not impossible... if you've studied the right way.

but if you have things to do, you get into the work/research routine... you may find time passes by and you really haven't put in that time.

i'd recommend taking it right after residency, simply because there are many things we do in practice that are not the "board" answer. a few months of hospitalist work, and you may put the right answer in practice, and the wrong answer for the boards.

I slacked and didn't take them until my 2nd year out...to be honest I missed the deadline (early registration) because it wasn't announced @my program or anything, and then I didn't want to pay the late fee and was burned out due to doing fellowship interviews, etc. However, I knew I had a research gig for the next 1 year at least, so passing right away wasn't important.

elwa's advice is good.

By the way, am I the only person who thinks the IM boards are kind of a stupid test? I mean USMLE II and III at least require some thinking/problem solving, but the ABIM test I thought was just a test to see if you could memorize factoids and lab tests associated with obscure disorders. So dumb. They didn't even really test to see if someone can read a basic ECG or chest radiograph, either.