From what I understand, a couple of currently unaccredited fellowships are in the works to become accredited, including OB and regional. I was wondering-if you end up doing an unaccredited fellowship before it becomes accredited, will you always be known as one who did the unaccredited version of the fellowship? Or would you be allowed to take the board examination when it becomes available, thereby 'becoming accredited?' Hope that makes sense...
Accreditation of fel
- Thread starter Lecithin5
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OB has been accredited for several years and 3/4 are now are accredited. The first 10 regional fellowships were approved this year with many to follow in the next few years. So that may be a mute point.
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I did regional before it was accredited. Definitely helped me land my current gig, and I, the hospital, my group and everyone else could care less that it's not accredited. I will never take a certification for it, even if/when that is offered. Just more money down the drain for absolutely no gain. The fact it wasn't accredited was also great because I made a hybrid attending/resident salary during my fellow year as opposed to a pgy-5 salary.
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Most fellowships when they become accredited leave the board exams open for a number of years so that people who already practice in the field can take the test and be grandfathered in. Eventually it's closed off to anyone who didn't complete an accredited fellowship, but it takes a while.
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Sort of a strange question, I'm not sure how to answer. Just because a fellowship becomes "accredited" (usually this means by the ACGME/subspecialty society like SOAP, NOT the ABA) doesn't mean it will end with a board exam. There is no such exam for OB or regional fellowships, and cardiac doesn't have a "board" exam per se but rather an echo exam administered by an entirely separate entity (National Board of Echocardiography). To be fair the SCA is entertaining the idea of a board examination, but it will be a tough sell unless they can somehow pair up with the NBE so only one exam is needed.
The ABA administers subspecialty board exams for critical care, peds and pain (and apparently sleep medicine/palliative care). The Pediatric subspecialty exam was introduced in 2013 and people who had extensive clinical experience in peds are able to challenge the test until 2019 as long as they met certain criteria ("grandfathering").
That all makes sense, but unlike other subspecialties (like Raryn's endocrinology), you don't really need a subspecialty board to practice. It is entirely up to your hospital/group/whatever whether they will credential you for the work you are doing - for cardiac, there are many, many people out there in the community and even in academics who didn't complete a formal fellowship. But those days are changing and now for many community and certainly almost all academic jobs you'll need a fellowship. Chances are if you've done a lot of peds in your career just about all hospitals will allow you to continue that going forward, even without a fellowship in the distant past. But I don't really see how something like this would apply to OB or regional - these skill sets should be in any anesthesiologist's armamentarium, at least on a superficial level that would satisfy most L&D floors and outpatient surgery centers (perhaps not the esoteric academic center).
Last thought - the primary allure of a regional fellowship is for trainees to gain a little extra experience and typically they are paid as a part-time faculty member and take general OR call making 2-3x what typical residents/fellows make. The others who don't really fit into this category are probably looking for a way into academics. Helps bridge the gap looking for jobs or waiting on a loved one to finish school/training in a another field. With ACGME accreditation this will no longer be allowed so they'll be making what your critical care and cardiac fellows make... if I had to guess I'd say interest will plummet except at the highest level institutions for those interested in academics. I can't really speak to OB because I know literally nothing about such a fellowship.
The ABA administers subspecialty board exams for critical care, peds and pain (and apparently sleep medicine/palliative care). The Pediatric subspecialty exam was introduced in 2013 and people who had extensive clinical experience in peds are able to challenge the test until 2019 as long as they met certain criteria ("grandfathering").
That all makes sense, but unlike other subspecialties (like Raryn's endocrinology), you don't really need a subspecialty board to practice. It is entirely up to your hospital/group/whatever whether they will credential you for the work you are doing - for cardiac, there are many, many people out there in the community and even in academics who didn't complete a formal fellowship. But those days are changing and now for many community and certainly almost all academic jobs you'll need a fellowship. Chances are if you've done a lot of peds in your career just about all hospitals will allow you to continue that going forward, even without a fellowship in the distant past. But I don't really see how something like this would apply to OB or regional - these skill sets should be in any anesthesiologist's armamentarium, at least on a superficial level that would satisfy most L&D floors and outpatient surgery centers (perhaps not the esoteric academic center).
Last thought - the primary allure of a regional fellowship is for trainees to gain a little extra experience and typically they are paid as a part-time faculty member and take general OR call making 2-3x what typical residents/fellows make. The others who don't really fit into this category are probably looking for a way into academics. Helps bridge the gap looking for jobs or waiting on a loved one to finish school/training in a another field. With ACGME accreditation this will no longer be allowed so they'll be making what your critical care and cardiac fellows make... if I had to guess I'd say interest will plummet except at the highest level institutions for those interested in academics. I can't really speak to OB because I know literally nothing about such a fellowship.
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