Board Exams worth it ??

[shouldigomd]

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Echo, ct, nuclear, vascular.... I feel these are a scam and much of the tests do not even reflect clinical practice. I think we are accustomed to blindly taking tests and getting credentials but how important are these really? Is it worth spending thousands of $$ and more importantly tons of valuable time in our last year of training when so much of these exams are nonsense? Is it worth spending 80 hours to take a useless physics class when I could be in the vascular lab doing peripheral?

 

[cards67]

Yeah, we all know, but ultimately your employer/hospital determines how important it is. They may or may not let you do certain things w/o board certification. I know some who read echos without certification yet other places require nuc boards. Even if your first employer is fine w/o boards, your next one may require it. Up to you if it's worth it.

 

[tn4596]

As a person who is taking all 4 of those boards,
My opinion is that echo and nuc are standard training with all fellowship, so I think echo and nuc board are pretty redundant. However if you think you might possibly gonna run a non invasive lab then I think you need to get them.
Ct and vascular are not taught in all fellowship so I would not be comfortable reading them unless I have some forms of credentialing or took a yr to do imaging training.
You can get cme for them if you take them after fellowship.

 

[shouldigomd]

Appreciate the replies and advice. I think I will take CT for the reasons you mentioned.