Cardiac boards [rant]

Started by Gasbabe21
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Iso4ane said:
Additionally, though I didn't explicitly state it, I took it this time because I believed a larger number of 'older' anesthesiologist were going to take it (and there being a generous curve,) Why wait until there is a less generous curve and you're competing with a greater proportion of test-takiers that are fresh out of fellowship.
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The argument for waiting is that there is a high possibility a fellowship trained anesthesiologist would never be required to take the test. The trade off, as you point out, is that the test may be harder if taken in the future.

For those seeking cardiac certification who have not completed a fellowship, I can understand the motivation to take the test ASAP due to the grandfathering timeline set out by the ABA.
 
DG51 said:
The argument for waiting is that there is a high possibility a fellowship trained anesthesiologist would never be required to take the test.
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Why do you think there's a high possibility? If you look more generally at all specialties/fellowships in medicine (including those in anesthesiology), every time a new board certification has come about there has been an almost inevitable push by hospitals, credentialing committees, and payors to ensure physicians practicing that specialty are boarded. Just look at all the older fellowship trained peds and neurocritical care anesthesia folks who had to take those exams when they came out.

Anesthesiologists and CT surgeons know that ACTA fellowship trained docs who are echo boarded don't need to take the exam, but unfortunately I doubt anyone else will realize that. The "cardiologists still have to take echo boards and do an advanced heart failure fellowship/take advanced heart failure boards if they want to practice AHF" argument will play well with laymen.
 
vector2 said:
Anesthesiologists and CT surgeons know that ACTA fellowship trained docs who are echo boarded don't need to take the exam, but unfortunately I doubt anyone else will realize that. The "cardiologists still have to take echo boards and do an advanced heart failure fellowship/take advanced heart failure boards if they want to practice AHF" argument will play well with laymen.
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Your laymen are not coming in to see the cardiac anesthesiologist like they do with a cardiologist. It will be the surgeons, department chairs and hospitals that decide whether they want the exam.
 
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DrN2O said:
Your laymen are not coming in to see the cardiac anesthesiologist like they do with a cardiologist. It will be the surgeons, department chairs and hospitals that decide whether they want the exam.
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Hospitals love bragging., won't tale much for - Come to our heart hospital where all our Anesthesiologists are boarded....unlike that other hospital in town.
 
DrN2O said:
Your laymen are not coming in to see the cardiac anesthesiologist like they do with a cardiologist. It will be the surgeons, department chairs and hospitals that decide whether they want the exam.
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The laymen I'm referring to are the hospital administrators and insurance industry administrators who have ultimate control over who gets privileged/credentialed and who can bill. They don't know anything about actual practice, and they don't care how meaningless a board certification is as long it's some shiny gold star they can pin on something.
 
Iso4ane said:
Hospitals love bragging., won't tale much for - Come to our heart hospital where all our Anesthesiologists are boarded....unlike that other hospital in town.
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Not just hospitals, but groups, too. We had a consultant that came and evaluated the CT surgery program at our hospital, and looked at us while they were here. They were quite impressed with the number of fellowship-trained and/or NBE APTE anesthesiologists on the team for a program of our size, and made sure to mention how we were well above the norm in their report to the hospital. It seemed to deflect some attention away from us, and the bulk of their report was on the surgeons and OR staff.
 
DrN2O said:
Your laymen are not coming in to see the cardiac anesthesiologist like they do with a cardiologist. It will be the surgeons, department chairs and hospitals that decide whether they want the exam.
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And with the current shortage, the new exam will not be required for at least a while if ever.
 
It will be much like pTEE cert. It will slowly catch on as a requirement/ barrier to entry in regions with a surplus of anesthesiologists. Then it will trickle across the country.

Ten years from now, you will see a similar distribution as you do now with pTEE. Some small hospitals, like mine, will have it as a requirement to do hearts (it’s actually in our medical staff bylaws). The more desperate places won’t care.

I’m at a crossroads in my life and career, and I’m considering taking the exam on the next go around. We live in a merit badge world, and as much as I don’t want to fall into the “Jane Doe MBA, MSN, RN, CEN, FBAC, THICC, WAP, EIEIO” trap, the reality is that “merit badge” looks good on the CV. It shows a dedication to continuing education, and staying current. If I can find a locums gig that requires it, I’ll make it a business expense.

In the current environment, it’s overkill, but these environments tend to have swings. If I’m going to add the cardiac component to my traveling work, it’s probably not a terrible idea to have all the certs.

And with everything going to MOCA, thank God, that last rePTEE was a bitch, it will be super easy to maintain cert. I was initially skeptical of the MOCA stuff, but I honestly think it has been much more helpful than the every ten year cram for exam stuff. I’ve learned stuff that I regularly use in practice now, that would have just been missed questions on a recert test.
 
Tests don't get more fun or easier the further along you get.

If you think you might want or need the merit badge, as periopdoc aptly puts it, take it sooner rather than later.

It's a frustrating process, but someday it'll be nice to just say "yeah I'm board certified in cardiac anesthesia" rather than have to recite all the (valid) reasons why it's dumb and unnecessary.
 
periopdoc said:
I’m at a crossroads in my life and career, and I’m considering taking the exam on the next go around. We live in a merit badge world, and as much as I don’t want to fall into the “Jane Doe MBA, MSN, RN, CEN, FBAC, THICC, WAP, EIEIO” trap, the reality is that “merit badge” looks good on the CV.
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Looks like the ABA concurs with your sentiment

1706039747644.png
 
Anybody see that they're already requiring you to pay for MOC, literally weeks after initial certification? Seems like the first year ought to be covered by the initial certification and the $1800 forked out for that...
 
abolt18 said:
Anybody see that they're already requiring you to pay for MOC, literally weeks after initial certification? Seems like the first year ought to be covered by the initial certification and the $1800 forked out for that
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abolt18 said:
Anybody see that they're already requiring you to pay for MOC, literally weeks after initial certification? Seems like the first year ought to be covered by the initial certification and the $1800 forked out for that...
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How did you find that out? I already signed up for MOCA before our test results came back. I looked on ABA website and dont see anything telling me to sign up for Cardiac MOCA
 
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abolt18 said:
Anybody see that they're already requiring you to pay for MOC, literally weeks after initial certification? Seems like the first year ought to be covered by the initial certification and the $1800 forked out for that...
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The trick was to pay for your 2024 moca before the scores were released.
 
Really?? That's really sneaky of the ABA. I'm glad I paid mine early then before the score release. No wonder I had to pay the extra $100 when the critical care exams results were released in the fall.
 
Just got an email from the ABA to pay the extra fee for the cardiac portion of moca.

Seems like for those that paid the moca fee early still has to pay the extra $100.
 
Remxed said:
Just got an email from the ABA to pay the extra fee for the cardiac portion of moca.

Seems like for those that paid the moca fee early still has to pay the extra $100.
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All of us who paid early before the results came out were a bit too clever by half thinking the ABA wasn't going to get its pound of flesh.
 
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Pinkyblack said:
What resources do you recommend for the day 2 part of the cardiology boards? Thank you
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The fact that your search ability led you to the wrong subspecialty forum, you proceeded to skip an entire anesthesiology thread's 4 pages (most of which would've let you know you're in the wrong forum), and then asked your erroneous question anyway....implies you may have a problem beyond choosing the correct study guide for day 2 of your cardiology boards.
 
This thread makes me sad. These boards are laughing all the way to the bank with y’alls’ money. I hate the game, not you players, but damn.

First MOCA now this. SMH. The lawyers would never.
 
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