how important is ABSITE??

[vent]

how important is ABSITE? Can potentially a "good" resident with good clinical progress have persistent low scores on absite and still stay in program?

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[thenavysurgeon]

some resident's are fired or held back for low scores.

do well on your absites.

there is a multitude of online resources to study from. the SESAP course, written by the same guys that write the absite, is excellent. its on CD rom. ask one of your attendings to borrow it, and whip off a copy.

xTNS

 

[njbmd]

how important is ABSITE? Can potentially a "good" resident with good clinical progress have persistent low scores on absite and still stay in program?

Hi there,
Program directors are not allowed to use ABSITE to "fire" or not promote a resident. If you do poorly on ABSITE, your PD may recommend that you do extra reading or remedial work to get you back up to speed but you cannot be fired based on ABSITE alone. If you are just starting your PGY-1 year, find out what is expected of you on ABSITE and get it done.

People often go up and down from year to year on this exam but if you are performing at a very low level for two years in a row, you need to be taking it up a notch. This year, ABSITE came in two versions, one for PGY 1 & 2 and then a more clinical test for PGY-3, 4 and 5.

ABSITE's greatest usefulness is in getting you prepped for taking and passing the written part of General Surgery Specialty Boards. The questions are supposed to be fairly similiar to those asked on that exam.

You should read and seriously prepare for ABSITE every year. Your basic science lectures/classes during residency should be your guide. You need to have a good text (Sabiston's, Greenfield's or Schwartz) and read regularly not just in the month of January.

Good luck!
njbmd 🙂

 

[surgdia]

Are ABSITE scores released to potential fellowship programs? I may be getting ahead of myself, as I'm just glad I survived intern day 1 without any major disasters.
sd

 

[Amy]

Are ABSITE scores released to potential fellowship programs? I may be getting ahead of myself, as I'm just glad I survived intern day 1 without any major disasters.
sd

Yes, fellowships want to know your ABSITE scores.

 

[tomplatz]

I got news for you boss, my PD held back 3 PGY3s last year and HALF our PGY2s this year, solely based on Absite scores. It may not be 'legal', but it's happening. They'll justify it to the RRC as "poor performance overall", but it's purely based on scores.

To make it worse, many of our folks are military and owe time, which gets extended. We're also a mandatory 7 year program, so you could potentially take 8 years to finish, then owe an additional year to the military. It's outrageous.

 

[Faebinder]

I got news for you boss, my PD held back 3 PGY3s last year and HALF our PGY2s this year, solely based on Absite scores. It may not be 'legal', but it's happening. They'll justify it to the RRC as "poor performance overall", but it's purely based on scores.

To make it worse, many of our folks are military and owe time, which gets extended. We're also a mandatory 7 year program, so you could potentially take 8 years to finish, then owe an additional year to the military. It's outrageous.

I know a program in NY that kicked out an intern and forced another senior resident to transfer based on Absite scores. Of course they claimed it was overall performance. It happens for sure....

 

[supercut]

I've known a few who have been held back based on overall subpar performance, often with poor absite scores being a "last straw". I doubt any truly good resident would be held back based on scores alone.

 

[vent]

well, my impression is and I heard that ABSITE really does not matter, unless you really have some other issues or you are a FMG. What really matters that PD are concerned if you can pass final board since if you fail it it is a bad credit for the program itself.

I don't really know how right I am

 

[UTSouthwestern]

I got news for you boss, my PD held back 3 PGY3s last year and HALF our PGY2s this year, solely based on Absite scores. It may not be 'legal', but it's happening. They'll justify it to the RRC as "poor performance overall", but it's purely based on scores.

To make it worse, many of our folks are military and owe time, which gets extended. We're also a mandatory 7 year program, so you could potentially take 8 years to finish, then owe an additional year to the military. It's outrageous.

You must be in San Antonio.