Exams one must take in psych residency (and in general)

[MissAmanda]

Hi, I am a current medical student. My friends have had mixed answers on this. Which & how many exams do you take from the start to end of residency (and which are optional)? I know there is Step 3. What else is required or optional? Is there one for your specific residency? Thanks!

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[psychotrope]

Hi, I am a current medical student. My friends have had mixed answers on this. Which & how many exams do you take from the start to end of residency (and which are optional)? I know there is Step 3. What else is required or optional? Is there one for your specific residency? Thanks!

you will take a prite every year....(psychiatry residency in training exam)......

what the programs expect you to score on it, and more importantly at what rate they expect you to improve on it, vary from program to program.....

it isn't an inconsequential thing though. For example one program I went to used the prite as some sort of ridiculous barrier to moonlight. There were pgy3s and 4's in the program who were scoring midrange on the prite and couldn't moonlight because the program had some unreasonably high prite cutoff(>85%) before you were eligible to moonlight.....

of course it had nothing to do with the prite and everything to do with them not wanting these people to moonlight, but sometimes the prite can be used that way.....

 

[whopper]

For example one program I went to used the prite as some sort of ridiculous barrier to moonlight.

In a very strict sense that program may be violating some guidelines since the PRITE is not intended to be used in that manner.

I didn't think the PRITE bore much resemblance to the psychiatry board exam. The best analogy I can think of is ever get a USMLE question book done by Appleton & Lange? At least when I was in medschool, very few of their questions were similar to that in the USMLE. When I studied for Step 2, I had over 80% correct on my Kaplan questions, but the A&L book--wow, I was getting about 20% correct and had a panic attack. Yes they were questions derived from the same material on the exam, but that's it. Other companies such as Kaplan, USMLEworld and Blueprints went out of their way to find out what types of questions were asked and tried to emulate the exam as well as it could. You were on much better ground to estimate your performance based on the latter sources instead of A&L.

I heard that with the ABPN getting rid of the oral board, they may require residency programs to do an oral exam for residents to advance to the next year. Anyone else hear the same?

 

[psychattending]

All programs are required to give residents a written and clinical exam each year. Most (all?) programs use the PRITE for the written exam. The clinical one is more variable but I think most programs do a board style oral exam. There is also a requirement that residents pass 3 clinical skills exams during residency in order to be Board eligible. This exam focuses on exam and history skills. How this is being combined with the requirement for a yearly clinical exam varies among different programs.

The Step 3 is, of course, not a psych exam, but most residents take it in their intern year. It is needed for a permanent license. Some programs will require a resident to pass it by a certain year. If they don't they are dismissed from the program. The written psych boards are now usually taken by most residents in the Spring of your 4th year of residency training. As far as I know it is optional from a training program perspective but you need to pass it if you want to be board certified.

 

[Sneezing]

Now that the required exams are listed, what are the optional exams? Aren't there some medications that need special training or certification in order to prescribe? Are there any certifications for therapies or ECT?

Also, has psychiatry moved to a recertification system like FP and IM where after 7 or so years you have to retake the boards to continue to be board certified?

 

[psychattending]

Now that the required exams are listed, what are the optional exams? Aren't there some medications that need special training or certification in order to prescribe? Are there any certifications for therapies or ECT?

Also, has psychiatry moved to a recertification system like FP and IM where after 7 or so years you have to retake the boards to continue to be board certified?

ABPN certification is good for 10 years. There is a written recert exam every 10 years plus a lot of other stuff one has to do. Visit the ABPN website for detailed info. Opiate detox with subutex et al requires a special DEA number. That is true for any MD who wants to prescribe it. One needs to take a course and pass a test to get the special cert. It is about 20 hours of work.

 

[MissAmanda]

All programs are required to give residents a written and clinical exam each year. Most (all?) programs use the PRITE for the written exam. The clinical one is more variable but I think most programs do a board style oral exam. There is also a requirement that residents pass 3 clinical skills exams during residency in order to be Board eligible. This exam focuses on exam and history skills. How this is being combined with the requirement for a yearly clinical exam varies among different programs.

The Step 3 is, of course, not a psych exam, but most residents take it in their intern year. It is needed for a permanent license. Some programs will require a resident to pass it by a certain year. If they don't they are dismissed from the program. The written psych boards are now usually taken by most residents in the Spring of your 4th year of residency training. As far as I know it is optional from a training program perspective but you need to pass it if you want to be board certified.

Thanks so much guys! So to be clear, the exams are:
1.) Step 3 - at the beginning of residency
2.) PRITE (or similar test) - at the end of each year of residency
3.) Written Psych boards - (optional) at the end of residency (retaken every 10 years)

4.) and lastly, the "3 clinical skills exams during residency in order to be Board eligible" ... what are these called, when are they taken, and are they optional too?

I will probably end up taking all the tests, but just want to know what is in store. Thanks!

 

[Shikima]

Yes, there is a new schedule for board certification. Done away are the days of sitting in front of a group of your peers, examining a person and giving your BPS of their situation. Rather, you are now doing this as a resident, 3 separate "mock" interviews by 2 attendings who are board certified.

Then after that competed bit of nonsense is done with, you get to spend a lot of money (where does it go?) for the written board certification.