pediatric anesthesia board exam 2013

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nap$ter

nap$ter

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anyone planning to take this?

i don't feel like shelling out the $1600 for yet another board exam - dunno whether my program will try to muscle me into taking this at the end of fellowship.

can't imagine that it's worth the dough/headache...
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slavin said:
anyone planning to take this?

i don't feel like shelling out the $1600 for yet another board exam - dunno whether my program will try to muscle me into taking this at the end of fellowship.

can't imagine that it's worth the dough/headache...
Click to expand...

I plan to take it.
 
slavin said:
anyone planning to take this?

i don't feel like shelling out the $1600 for yet another board exam - dunno whether my program will try to muscle me into taking this at the end of fellowship.

can't imagine that it's worth the dough/headache...
Click to expand...


At this point I'd prefer not to be a guinea pig by taking one of the first board exams. My department is not pushing for us to take it right away. I would rather wait to hear feedback from other test takers, let the test test makers work the kinks out, and perhaps wait for better review books to come out.
 
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Oh I don't mind. Decreasing job security, bargaining power and ability to control one's own (and patients') fate in this field--I expect that is the reason. Insecurity basically.

I spent a lot of money doing a mid-career peds fellowship. What's another thousand or two besides another annoyance?
 
Besides, i've heard it's always bet to take the inaugural board exam as the pass rates tend to be highest. Makes sense when you think about it. You'll have people who have been doing peds for 10+ years taking it the first time round, would look pretty poorly if many of 'em failed.
 
DrMunkey said:
Besides, i've heard it's always bet to take the inaugural board exam as the pass rates tend to be highest. Makes sense when you think about it. You'll have people who have been doing peds for 10+ years taking it the first time round, would look pretty poorly if many of 'em failed.
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Plus, many of them have not taken a standardized test in 10+ years. The fail rate may be higher than expected. Of course, they may normalize it for the first group. Hard to know what the best approach is-wait to let others test the waters, or jump in with the first group hoping to catch a break.
I don't do much pedi anymore, so I doubt I will even try it. If I had plans to do a considerable amount, I think it would be wise to have that credential.
 
Imfrankie, why do you cite job security as one of your reasons for taking the exam? Pediatric anesthesiologists are a rare breed aren't they?
 
Debating whether to take it. My chief/chair do not seem to care, but then again they will be retired in 5-10 years and I will still be working. I do not need it to keep my job, but It might come in handy if I need to find a pediatric anesthesia job elsewhere.

By the way I hear Children's Hospital of Michigan (Wayne State University) is developing a pediatric anesthesia fellowship for CRNA's...
 
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Masseter Spasm said:
Debating whether to take it. My chief/chair do not seem to care, but then again they will be retired in 5-10 years and I will still be working. I do not need it to keep my job, but It might come in handy if I need to find a pediatric anesthesia job elsewhere.

By the way I hear Children's Hospital of Michigan (Wayne State University) is developing a pediatric anesthesia fellowship for CRNA's...
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That is such a pile of garbage. I cannot believe the ASA and SPA are allowing this to happen. Are the folks at CHOM doing this because they are desperate for the money or free labor to help them run their OR's? This will open up a pandora's box of problems in the future. I know that some people are thinking that a CRNA will NEVER replace a Physician when it comes to pediatric cases, but this is how it starts. First they will take care of the healthy older kids, then the sicker and younger kids, then next thing you know they will be pushing to do pediatric hearts and transplants unsupervised or with the surgeon "supervising" them.
 
Peds exam in less than a month! Is anybody studying?

I think there will be a lot of recycled concepts from the main written board with just a little bit more pedi flavor.
 
Good to know. I plan to take it next year. Curious to see what the pass rate will be and what type of study materials will come out now that there is more information about the exam.
 
For anyone that just took the first iteration of the exam: what did you use to study, and in retrospect, how would you study if you had to take it again? How did it compare to the primary written boards?
 
Took the first iteration, did absolutely ZERO prep since I was lazy, jaded, just finished Pedi fellowship 2 months prior, just finished writtens and orals in the preceding year. The writtens had a bunch of questions that show up on the pedi boards just out of sheer paucity of good questions available. There were some that I definitely remember being on my writtens 15 months prior. That all being said, my older partners who took it said that Pass Machine was phenomenal and had many questions that seemed to be verbatim on the test. PM me if you're interested in Jensen's pedi prep book.
 
I would not recommend Jensen for the exam. It is too big and most of its material is irrelevant to the pediatric exam. I would recommend trying to find as many pediatric specific test questions as possible and reading about the topics on the ABA content outline. I felt that the ABA pediatric exam contained questions no more difficult than those found on the regular written boards.
 
Available on Amazon, came out right before the boards...
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...:aps,k:pediatric+anesthesiology+review+topics


Pediatric Anesthesiology Review Topics (PART)

The complete PART series represents the combined knowledge of experts from across the United States. PART is intended to be a comprehensive but concise review of the basic science, clinical medicine, and anesthetic implications of diseases relevant to the pediatric anesthesia provider or other healthcare professionals caring for children in the perioperative setting.

For a comprehensive review of pediatric anesthesiology as well as OVER 300 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS, please download all 11 volumes.

Each book in the PART series contains multiple chapters, each of which is complete with:

(1) A focused topic review
(2) Multiple-choice review questions (with answer explanations) for knowledge assessment
(3) A list of references for additional reading

Books available in the PART series include:

Book 1 – Genetics and Development for the Pediatric Anesthesiologist
Book 2 – Pharmacology for the Pediatric Anesthesia Provider
Book 3 – The Pediatric Airway and Thoracic Surgery
Book 4 – The Cardiovascular System and Cardiac Surgical Procedures
Book 5 – The Nervous System and Neurosurgery
Book 6 – Gastrointestinal and Urologic Surgery
Book 7 – Endocrine, Orthopedic, and Ophthalmologic Surgery
Book 8 – Hematology and Oncology
Book 9 – Neonatal Anesthesia
Book 10 – Pediatric Pain Medicine
Book 11 – Special Topics in Pediatric Anesthesiology
 
michigangirl said:
Available on Amazon, came out right before the boards...


Pediatric Anesthesiology Review Topics (PART)


Book 1 – Genetics and Development for the Pediatric Anesthesiologist
Book 2 – Pharmacology for the Pediatric Anesthesia Provider
Book 3 – The Pediatric Airway and Thoracic Surgery
Book 4 – The Cardiovascular System and Cardiac Surgical Procedures
Book 5 – The Nervous System and Neurosurgery
Book 6 – Gastrointestinal and Urologic Surgery
Book 7 – Endocrine, Orthopedic, and Ophthalmologic Surgery
Book 8 – Hematology and Oncology
Book 9 – Neonatal Anesthesia
Book 10 – Pediatric Pain Medicine
Book 11 – Special Topics in Pediatric Anesthesiology
Click to expand...

At 9 bucks and over 100 pages per chapter, it makes you wonder if you are better off reading Cote's, Smith's or Gregory's.
 
Masseter Spasm said:
I would not recommend Jensen for the exam. It is too big and most of its material is irrelevant to the pediatric exam. I would recommend trying to find as many pediatric specific test questions as possible and reading about the topics on the ABA content outline. I felt that the ABA pediatric exam contained questions no more difficult than those found on the regular written boards.
Click to expand...


Are you talking about Jensen's Big Blue book or his pediatric specific book that he recently came out with?
 
Sorry, I meant the pediatric specific edition of big blue in its first edition. I think they call it Baby Blue. (Seriously, does anyone want a blue baby!)
 
passed. went hunting instead of studying. you get everything you need in the general boards and fellowship. zero add'l prep needed.

got my first deer ever in the snow - 5x5 nice thick buck. thought about practicing a retrograde wire, didnt have one in my pack...
 
Well I passed. I used PEDs blue by Jensen. While I agree it was overkill I did feel pretty confident I had passed leaving the exam room.

In retrospect however the PASS course for the PEDs anesthesia exam may be a better choice.....a few attgs at my children's hospital swore by it.

On the other if u used Jensen for the writtens, PEDs blue will be a fast read as a lot of the topics are repeated/similar. I would choose it again as I found it to be a relatively quick read.

I will say the ace questions that were PEDs related were too narrow in scope for the exam.

One thing for sure is that this exam is not nearly as big of a deal as the writtens or the orals....not even close. It seems like EVERYONE at my hospital (20+ people) passed.
 
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invitro said:
Well I passed. I used PEDs blue by Jensen. While I agree it was overkill I did feel pretty confident I had passed leaving the exam room.

In retrospect however the PASS course for the PEDs anesthesia exam may be a better choice.....a few attgs at my children's hospital swore by it.

On the other if u used Jensen for the writtens, PEDs blue will be a fast read as a lot of the topics are repeated/similar. I would choose it again as I found it to be a relatively quick read.

I will say the ace questions that were PEDs related were too narrow in scope for the exam.

One thing for sure is that this exam is not nearly as big of a deal as the writtens or the orals....not even close. It seems like EVERYONE at my hospital (20+ people) passed.
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What is this PASS course? Did you do both PASS course and PEDS blue? How much were they? DId you do COte in addition to both of these courses? Thanks, Lisa
 
I was wondering if this is being done at other facilities....my place is allowing a general anesthesiologist to sit for the peds anesthesia board exam in 2014 when that person does not even meet the grandfathering criteria. I mean that person has not been practicing peds primarily for the last 2 years as per the ABA grandfathering crieria.

I do not know what to do... I do not want to tell the ABA as I may lose my job.. It makes feel sick to know that I did a peds anesthesia fellowship and this person does n0t even meet the criteria and is being allowed to sit for the exam..

Any advice on how I should handle this AND not hurt myself?
 
bilson said:
I was wondering if this is being done at other facilities....my place is allowing a general anesthesiologist to sit for the peds anesthesia board exam in 2014 when that person does not even meet the grandfathering criteria. I mean that person has not been practicing peds primarily for the last 2 years as per the ABA grandfathering crieria.

I do not know what to do... I do not want to tell the ABA as I may lose my job.. It makes feel sick to know that I did a peds anesthesia fellowship and this person does n0t even meet the criteria and is being allowed to sit for the exam..

Any advice on how I should handle this AND not hurt myself?
Click to expand...

Get over it bilson! Did you see the post above about CRNA fellowship training? You are worried about something that has no bearing on you. Get over it. Just take the test already and move on. There are bigger fish to fry in our profession right now. Stop worrying about feeling cheated and ratting out a colleague.
 
BuzzPhreed said:
Get over it bilson! Did you see the post above about CRNA fellowship training? You are worried about something that has no bearing on you. Get over it. Just take the test already and move on. There are bigger fish to fry in our profession right now. Stop worrying about feeling cheated and ratting out a colleague.
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let us know if you pass.
 
BuzzPhreed said:
Get over it bilson! Did you see the post above about CRNA fellowship training? You are worried about something that has no bearing on you. Get over it. Just take the test already and move on. There are bigger fish to fry in our profession right now. Stop worrying about feeling cheated and ratting out a colleague.
Click to expand...

He's not "feeling cheated" he's being cheated.
 
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