If one says, "I am taking the boards" does that not refer to USMLE

[omn]

Was it ever true that the phrase:

"I am taking the Boards."

meant studying for the USMLE exam? Is it still true today and with what frequency?

Any insight from someone down here with experience?

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[TBV]

Nah ive heard student PTs say it, Ive heard nurses taking their exam say it, etc,etc

 

[Crayola227]

yes, I have heard it called that

 

[TeddyBoomBoom]

Was it ever true that the phrase:

"I am taking the Boards."

meant studying for the USMLE exam? Is it still true today and with what frequency?

Any insight from someone down here with experience?

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I don't understand where your question comes from.

Board exams are exams from the NBME, the national board of medical examiners, or down the road, from the boards of medical specialties, no?

 

[Mad Jack]

Was it ever true that the phrase:

"I am taking the Boards."

meant studying for the USMLE exam? Is it still true today and with what frequency?

Any insight from someone down here with experience?

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Board exams are any exam given by a board to determine competence. It does not and has not ever been specific to the Step exams. In medicine, it can mean Steps or specialty boards.

 

[Redpancreas]

it

Was it ever true that the phrase:

"I am taking the Boards."

meant studying for the USMLE exam? Is it still true today and with what frequency?

Any insight from someone down here with experience?

Sent from my SM-N900V using SDN mobile

I am clueless as to the purpose of this question, lol. Like why does it matter? Like are you just curious about semantics? Are you upset that other fields call their exams "the boards" because that's what they are?
Anyhow, every health professional field probably has a board exam to take and the frequency of referring to them as them as "boards" is probably no different than medical students referring to the boards.

 

[Stagg737]

As already said, boards is a general term. Step 1, Step 2, or Step 3 refers to USMLE only. Level 1, 2, 3 refers to COMLEX. I'm not sure what other fields call them, but they are also "boards".

 

[psychhopefull2016]

When talking to another med student or someone in the field I say "I just got my step 2 CK score back"
When talking to others "I just got my board scores back"

Boards are a general term that applies to many fields. I use it when I don't want to explain the steps to someone

 

[WellWornLad]

It's all semantics, but USMLEs are technically licensing exams. You need to pass these, plus complete 1-3 years of residency (depending on the state) to obtain a full license to practice medicine. You generally need to pass the first two to get a training license (i.e., what you practice under as a resident).

Board exams are what you take to become "board certified" in a specialty. You don't need to be board certified to practice medicine, but you'll have a very hard time getting malpractice insurance or a job in any hospital or private group without it. Your scope of practice will also be extremely limited without board certification, and you would not be able to practice medicine in any other 1st world country outside of the US that I know of.

In some specialties you could also be "board eligible" if you fulfill some of the requirements of board certification but have not passed the requisite board exams, e.g. you complete an accredited residency. The meaning of this varies somewhat from specialty to specialty, but it's usually just a limbo period where people are expecting to go on and become board certified at some point.

 

[Law2Doc]

Premeds sometimes refer to the Steps the boards. They're really not, it's a colloquialism/slang and outside of the premed cocoon board exams mean the specialty exams you take after residency. When someone calls themselves "board certified" they aren't talking about the steps.

 

[hallowmann]

Premeds sometimes refer to the Steps the boards. They're really not, it's a colloquialism/slang and outside of the premed cocoon board exams mean the specialty exams you take after residency. When someone calls themselves "board certified" they aren't talking about the steps.

Its also used by med students, residents, and attendings to refer to the steps/levels when referring to a med student. Boards in general are a broad term. Other careers use them as well when referring to a national exam administered by a body known as a Board (e.g. NCLEX for nursing administered by the NCSBN, NAPLEX for pharmacy administered by the NABP, etc.).

Medical boards or board eligible/certified refers to another set of medical specialty boards, as you said, but the use of "boards" to refer to the steps is not just some "premed" colloquialism.

 

[Law2Doc]

Its also used by med students, residents, and attendings to refer to the steps/levels when referring to a med student. Boards in general are a broad term. Other careers use them as well when referring to a national exam administered by a body known as a Board (e.g. NCLEX for nursing administered by the NCSBN, NAPLEX for pharmacy administered by the NABP, etc.).

Medical boards or board eligible/certified refers to another set of medical specialty boards, as you said, but the use of "boards" to refer to the steps is not just some "premed" colloquialism.

Yeah it is -- fwiw I was lumping med students and early residents into the term "premeds" because they aren't licensed doctors yet (a colloquialism of my own 🙂). The boards in medicine are the specialty boards. Everything else referenced by that term is just imprecise terminology of convenience. No biggie, I called the steps the boards when I was in med school, but knew it was just a syllable saver as compared to saying "USMLE" or "licensing exam".

 

[Psai]

Yeah it is -- fwiw I was lumping med students and early residents into the term "premeds" because they aren't licensed doctors yet (a colloquialism of my own 🙂). The boards in medicine are the specialty boards. Everything else referenced by that term is just imprecise terminology of convenience. No biggie, I called the steps the boards when I was in med school, but knew it was just a syllable saver as compared to saying "USMLE" or "licensing exam".

So you are against using the words boards for step exams which literally everyone else does and you lump medical students and residents into premeds which literally no one else does. Imprecise terminology of convenience indeed.

 

[Law2Doc]

So you are against using the words boards for step exams which literally everyone else does and you lump medical students and residents into premeds which literally no one else does. Imprecise terminology of convenience indeed.

I didn't say I'm against it. I said I personally used it back when, but didn't pretend it was accurate terminology. It IS slang. Lots of people call California "Cali" or San Francisco "Frisco" but that doesn't mean it's not vernacular.

 

[Psai]

How is it slang? It is administered by the Federation of State Medical Boards and the National Board of Medical Examiners. You can't become board certified without them.

 

[Law2Doc]

How is it slang? It is administered by the Federation of State Medical Boards and the National Board of Medical Examiners. You can't become board certified without them.

Simple, because neither of those groups themselves refer to it as a board exam, and the actual board exams are later administered by the specialty boards. I'm not saying you aren't allowed to call the tests whatever you want. I'm just saying the premed/med school/ residency slang is to call the steps of the licensing exam the boards. People later in the profession will refer to those as the steps or the licensing exam (or more likely not refer to them at all as they become irrelevant once you are licensed and later boarded), and will refer to the specialty boards as the boards. Anyway this debate is tiresome. Refer to them however you want now and remember to come back to this thread in a few years once you are studying for the specialty board and see if you still disagree.

 

[Donald Juan]

Simple, because neither of those groups themselves refer to it as a board exam, and the actual board exams are later administered by the specialty boards. I'm not saying you aren't allowed to call the tests whatever you want. I'm just saying the premed/med school/ residency slang is to call the steps of the licensing exam the boards. People later in the profession will refer to those as the steps or the licensing exam (or more likely not refer to them at all as they become irrelevant once you are licensed and later boarded), and will refer to the specialty boards as the boards. Anyway this debate is tiresome. Refer to them however you want now and remember to come back to this thread in a few years once you are studying for the specialty board and see if you still disagree.

Ok, I don't see how studying for the specialty boards will change the definition of what a board exam is. Many countries refer to their high school tests as boards, and other professions refer to tests that give licenses to individuals as board exams because they are administered by licensing boards. Even though the steps are called steps, they are given by the national board of medical examiners...which means it's administered by a board to give MDs a professional license, which is what makes it a board, not just that they call the test a board.

I do agree, though, that this is tiresome. I'll be sure to check this thread for several years until I decide I changed the definition of what a licensing exam given by a board of administrators is called.

 

[omn]

Arguably, it's easier 2 picture a "Board of Examiners" sitting around a table discussing "Specialty" qualifications, whereas, with USMLE, the picture seems different -- very computerized, and less "Board-like" (that's not a word, I get it). So, by context, one could argue the use is circumspect.

Somehow, I don't picture a👎 NBME as a roomful of people, even though I know there must be one...?

I DO know that Step 2 has changed from when I started Med School, as the old NBME exams show.... and now Step 3 is graded and monitored... ? I don't get it....

signed,

Lord Suspicious, (about computers and IT managers controlling our lives)
P.S. -- I will leave the House now, thank you very much
P.S.S. -- nice and easy like ...
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