FAILED PEDS BOARD...NON ELIGIBLE

[DrDoom71]

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Hi I recently failed board this year and thus non board eligible status. Peds residency grad in 2008. I have had some of my MD friends suggest if finding jobs gets difficult and it will, time for class action lawsuit against ABP. In my case I graduated 2008 the new 7 yr rule was started 2010. I firmly believe at least this rule should not have been retroactive as I too will have my livelihood affected... Go back to residency training to take an exam??! I just want to be eligible and decide what's best for me period. Start botox and fillers in my basement?
Tired of this money racketeering organization. It's an anti-pediatric advocacy group.

What are your thoughts? I see this problem snowballing in the years to come.

 

[mvenus929]

What was your difficulty in passing the boards in the last 7 years?

 

[Marie0123]

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[DrDoom71]

What was your difficulty in passing the boards in the last 7 years?

LIFE got in the way of studying for this test... makes the USMLE look like a open book 5-min quiz and actually did well on the peds in-service exams...This year the board was about research and statistics...I could have had another 1-2 months to study trust me...would not have helped. As Master Yoda would say..."be afraid...be very afraid!"

I have been a repeat offender, did multiple review courses, coaching class, saw the psychologist etc etc... statistically speaking repeat test takers have less of a chance of passing...starting with a low pass rate last I checked out there was aprox 75% like WTF, please don't mind my rant...for you newbies out there.. board certification is necessary only for INS companies to reimburse you especially MEDICAID/ get hired by a private practice to see 30-40 plus/day and/or to have hospital privileges, and marketing purposes. "Passing" the ABP for academics/honor/prestige is a ****ing joke, maybe 15-20 yrs ago but now? baah... In my years of practice not ONE parent asked me.. are you board certified? again this is my rant but worse than failing the board is the farce of going back to residency training for 6 months min. WTF? for a few points missed on a standardized test? I would even consider it if the ABP aided or assisted you in some way...they don't. It's a logistic nightmare...get uprooted from your life move to another city or state... and assuming a program will take you and if they do it will be for a year not less. Correlation between patient quality of care and board certification? absolutely NOT.
It will get worse over the next few years and I predict they will have to change the rules or face the risk of a Class Action lawsuit and this goes for the all specialties. sorry for the rant... thanks for reading. I'll brush up on my Botox and fillers/locums/sick house call visits for rich elite, and BTW... I LOVE pediatrics.

 

[DrDoom71]

I'm not sure a whole lot of people on here think the ABP is an anti-peds advocacy group...

SAD SAD SAD... ANTI PEDIATRICIANS ALL THE WAY...the irony? go to the ABP website and read the BLOGS... see for yourself, so sad.

 

[Marie0123]

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[Stitch]

I can understand your frustration and agree that the ABP's policy is poorly thought out in terms of what it actually means for people who haven't passed the exam. It will likely drive people away from becoming certified as will the ridiculous part 4 of certification maintenance. It's also true that the exams tend to be less clinically related and more geared towards academics, which is unfortunate. They have made some changes to the pass rate in recent years, namely that they no long grade on a curve and don't fail a set percentage every year.

Politics aside however, certification is actually important, and I don't want to give the impression that it's not. Not every job will require certification, or even maintenance of it, but many places do. Even some private practices require it. Patients may not directly ask you, but they definitely look these things up on the internet. So while getting a job certainly won't be impossible, it may be more difficult.

There needs to be some sort of certification exam to show competence. Ideally the exam would reflect everything you learned in residency, and residencies would be trusted or monitored to produce excellent pediatricians. The ABP has definitely missed the mark on many things, and I hope that they will change. But the exam is passable and should be taken seriously. One of the ways to change things is to become involved. Most of us are busy taking care of patients, and may not think we have time to do that sort of thing. This leaves policies and administrative things like certification and question writing to people who often aren't as clinically oriented. Change starts with us, and it's never too early or too soon to make your voice heard.

 

[marcus8]

The ABP is there to make money. Period. What about one of the newer national boards?

 

[Giic]

Certification is important.
I agree that the exam questions are not usually practical from a clinical standpoint, but the exam is usually scored based on how everyone else does. So if most people fail a question, it will not be included in final consideration to determine your score. In fact, for years, ABP exams were graded on a curve. About 3 or 4 years ago, it was changed so that a fixed # of correct answers is now required to pass - but I hear that that change did not significantly change the % of people passing.

I probably wouldn't want to be cared for by a physician who was unable to pass the exam due to a lack of fund of knowledge. However, if there was another reason, such as a medical condition like narcolepsy, panic attacks, attention-deficit disorder, etc - then I guess that is different. But that might also beg the question of whether this physician could concentrate and focus long enough to care for a patient properly.

I'm sorry - not trying to be offensive. But I really think you should just re-attempt the boards....I wont support a class action lawsuit.