PTE Recertification

[Twiggidy]

So took my RePTE today. Not as bad as I thought. Mostly could have just read Mathew, and reviewed with Conquer the PTE. Not sure the online question bank was valuable or necessary.

More importantly, does anyone know anything about this? Seems that NBE will be changing maintenance of certification. I'm thinking they will be moving to an ABA-type model where you do annual CME rather than cram for a test every 10 years?View attachment 374767

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[Bertelman]

“Help” is an understatement. One of the goals of fellowship is to prepare grads to pass the Adv PTE. You’ve already done that.

 

[Twiggidy]

Well. Too late to delete my post above? 🤣

So does it exist more for the sonographers? Is it an age-related thing? More prevalent with younger guys?

I checked the 3 most proficient guys at our hospital, in particular the ones that perform TEE. All three obtained initial certification and diplomat status. Two renewed, another passed the exam but did not certify. And I work at a community center, nothing prestigious.

I think it has most to do with billing but even that is somewhat debatable. I do know that at this point in medicine, as far as anesthesia, for a “fair amount” of practices and most academic centers if you want to get hired as a cardiac anesthesiologist you need to be TEE certified and pretty soon will need to have passed that tests they’re putting out in December

 

[DrN2O]

Fortunately, the Advanced RePTE is only $595 for early birds. Not like that sham of ABA cert. If that gets me another 10 yrs, I'll take it.

I'm under the impression taking the current initial Advanced PTeXAM does NOT give you any time off the new annual maintenance, i.e. you pay for the full exam, without the benefit of 10 year before recert (like before), and have to pay for the annual maintenance right away next year. Is this also true for the recert?

 

[Mitaraminology]

Yep, i did that. For about 3 years we had one resident each year do that in my residency. I was the only one that did a fellowship after.

There is still a huge knowledge gap between fellowship and just the test. You're not on earth anymore, you are at the ISS, but the fellowship trained people are on the moon (or mars for some crazy practices).

I like this analogy. It's similar to my mindset going into the exam.
I decided that even if I didn't pass the exam or even get into cardiac anesthesia later on, learning how to perform, interpret and troubleshoot a TEE are high yield skills to have in a world where ASA 3 is your default. It surely helped me make the most of my 3 months in the heart rooms and in the CVICU last year.

 

[pgg]

“Help” is an understatement. One of the goals of fellowship is to prepare grads to pass the Adv PTE. You’ve already done that.

Yeah - I had the advantage of already being board certified when I went back to fellowship, so not having oral boards hanging over my head was a huge benefit.

I was a TEE novice though. In the preceding 7 years of practice as a generalist I'd done zero TEEs so I might as well have been a total newbie. If I'd started fellowship with the book knowledge needed to pass the advanced exam, I'd have benefited from learning advanced stuff sooner vs spending the first few months learning the basics. Huge advantage for a new fellow who's already passed.

 

[Bertelman]

Looks like the NBE got their stuff together this year. Already received my Diplomate status. Last year it seems like people were waiting almost a full year after passing the test.