Here is a letter that a friend requested from me to simply summarize what the PE has cost me, so please do not take this test lightly, and yes some of you do know who I am, and yes I am still waiting, just not making any noise this time.....so shut up, roll over and take the test, because there is nothing you can do. Sad thing is I am prob. one of the few DOs that plan to use OMT:
I am one of the medical students that failed the Osteopathic PE, and am not able to start my residency until I reconcile my score after the 10-week grading period. I write this letter in an effort to let you know that this is not a simple hardship case but one that is happening as I type. I was an average, and I mean very average medical student, however, I had been in the medical field for over a decade as a radiologic technologist, mainly doing surgery, ER and CT. I only state this as to let you know that I am not new to medicine and that I had a previous well paying occupation. I worked on the weekend at this occupation even through my first two years of medical school. The extra income was needed because I also have three kids and just because school started does not mean the bills stopped. I passed every class, step 1, step 2 and excelled at my rotations. I did this while others in my class got kicked out of rotations, held for peer review, failed multiple classes and one who did all those and failed step 1. I will not mention names, but the PE exam was supposed to be able to pick out these people, correct? People who could endanger patients? I have always had a great relationship with my patients, and have had no complaints filed. This new requirement has put me in a very awkward position. I was accepted by my first choice to come to Alaska for a family medicine residency. I picked up my family, sold almost everything we owned, and headed north. I had a deadline to be in Anchorage by the 16th of June. On the 13th of June at Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, I found out that I failed. This was devastating, not only had we been uprooted from our home, but we had been hit by a hail storm and tornado coming through Kerney, Nebraska on the way. So, as we pull into Anchorage with two trucks that are trashed, one with a smashed windshield, and two trailers, one a fifth wheel, we were totally at a loss as for what our future would hold. We have been stuck in the fifth wheel trailer, due the to the lack of funds or job to purchase or even rent a home. I had to pay another $2400 to fly back to the only place we can take the test. So here we wait in approximately 280 sq ft of living space on Ft. Richardson. It has been almost 3 months since we found out, and we still have another month before the test results come back. I have spent our entire life savings with the move; I am not enrolled and am not eligible for student loans. I have worked for this position for almost 12 years and here I am $300k in debt, almost broke again and facing an unknown testing procedure that cannot even hit a predicted 50% mark on who should pass or fail. I am not eligible to become an x-ray tech again because I put my license into retirement after my second year of medical school. No one will hire me because I am over qualified, and have only been able to work as a handyman and small construction jobs because they do not require a resume. The cost of moving alone was over $12k. However, with all this, we are still making it day by day. My biggest concern is what if I dont pass again? They did not even tell me what I did wrong the first two times. I have read three books practiced with multiple residence, and yet, what if? We had 14 people out of our class who did not pass the first time; I was the only one to write a formal complaint to the school about not having adequate information on how to correct the situation. And funny enough, I was the only one not to pass. This was also after a confronting a NBOME board member who was vice president of our school, because this was not in the contract we signed when we entered medical school. I feel as if there is no one else to hear the issues with the high stakes testing methods. I know I cannot be the only student out there with these hardships. What I can say is that the testing cannot predict which students will have poor patient communication from the papers Gimpel wrote. I will not get into the blaming game, I simply would like to know what I need to do to get by this test. I simply wish to move on. I dont know if I have been black balled because of the issues I brought up, but if I have, I will have no option but to leave medicine. My life long dream, almost 12 years in the making, gone; so here I sit in limbo knowing if I dont pass this time I will have to leave Alaska because my residency spot will be forfeited, and move again back to the lower 48, uprooting my kids and family again. However, this may not be for some time due to financial restraints. Then what? Take it again? What would be the point if I dont even know what I did wrong? As I see it I have already lost $34,800 on this test with moving cost, travel, testing fees, and lost wages, and it does not include the wages I am losing because of the time lost from graduation. How much longer can I afford to do this? I cannot even file bankruptcy like a normal person because they are student loans
. Please let me know if I am wrong, but my situation seems dismal at this point. Oh and did I mention that they have contacted me about deployment to Kosovo? All because of a test that has a correlation coefficient of 0.38 and 0.41 and founding papers coauthored by a board member of EMS (Educational Management Solutions) Arcadia, who just by chance is the company that designed the testing facility and testing system. So anytime anyone says it is just a test, it is definitely more than just a test to my family and myself. Please let me know if there is anyway to convert to the MD world or have the AMA review the situation.
