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It's certainly an improvement. Making the sim an optional way to satisfy the part 4 requirement is also an improvement.


But I can't help but facepalm this comment from the article:
Salomon Imiak, an anesthesiologist and national medical director for Sheridan Healthcare in Sunrise, Fla., said that he likes the new approach.

“It’s extremely convenient,” Imiak said, “it’s less expensive [annually], it’s less stressful and it allows us to identify areas of lack of knowledge that we should improve.”
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What a bizarre thing to say. That it's less expensive annually doesn't make it less expensive overall.

The ridiculous cost of all this stuff isn't a cash flow issue. It's a cost issue. I wonder if Dr Imiak probably leases a new car every 18 months because it's less expensive [annually].
 
Psai said:
Are you serious? Weekly online quizzes? What do they think this is, the first year of nursing school?
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Actually, I like this.

If the purpose of MOCA is to spur continuous improvement with minimally intrusive system that monitors that improvement ... well, if I was to design such a system, I'd
- put it online
- let people use it at their convenience
- make the content a mixture of basic topics and new developments
- have a non-punitive no-fail assessment mechanism (questions) that would then allow the system to customize future content presented to that individual based on areas of weakness

That would be minimally intrusive, minimally inconvenient, and probably actually useful to me. This is, more or less, exactly what the ABA is doing with this piece of MOCA. So, I'm happy to see this change.

What strikes me as ridiculous is that they've magically come up with $210 per year as the cost of this thing that replaces a $2,100 formal exam at a 3rd party test center every 10 years.

One of the primary complaints and criticisms of MOCA from the beginning is the absurd cost of it all. Everything from the slimy ABA/ASA kickback scheme that required stupidly-expensive CME purchases from ASA (ooooh, but they'll discount it a little bit if you pay $100s/year to be an ASA member) to the $2100 MOCA exam to the $multi-thousand costs involved with travel and a day at an ABA-approved simulator center. It was a bunch of **** with no actual value to any of us.

So yeah, this is an improvement.
 
Agreed. This is a vast improvement for you guys. I'd rather spend 20-30 mins weekly on something rather than dedicating a lot more time, money and potentially punitive actions. We're adults and this addresses the issue that we're adult learners working towards self-improvement through addressing deficiencies in knowledge.
 
pgg said:
Actually, I like this.


What strikes me as ridiculous is that they've magically come up with $210 per year as the cost of this thing that replaces a $2,100 formal exam at a 3rd party test center every 10 years.

One of the primary complaints and criticisms of MOCA from the beginning is the absurd cost of it all. Everything from the slimy ABA/ASA kickback scheme that required stupidly-expensive CME purchases from ASA (ooooh, but they'll discount it a little bit if you pay $100s/year to be an ASA member) to the $2100 MOCA exam to the $multi-thousand costs involved with travel and a day at an ABA-approved simulator center. It was a bunch of **** with no actual value to any of us.

So yeah, this is an improvement.
Click to expand...

It might actually make more money for ABA. They no longer have to pay Pearson Vue or competitor.
 
dr doze said:
It might actually make more money for ABA. They no longer have to pay Pearson Vue or competitor.
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That's ok IMO. Physicians won't be needlessly bothered by garbage and loss of time when it can be spent more meaningful with family/friends, conferences, and activities which won't take away enormous amounts of time including working.
 
Psai said:
Are you serious? Weekly online quizzes? What do they think this is, the first year of nursing school?
Click to expand...

Taking an online quiz and studying on your own weekly seems a hell of a lot better than having to gear up for a 10 year re-certification. Lots of attendings I talked to say it's extremely stressful leading up to test, trying to balance work, family with studying.
 
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