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Any suggestions as to what I need to do (besides reading) during residency to make sure I attain board certification upon graduation?
What to do as a resident to prepare for board certification..
- Thread starter toughlife
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There are many paths to success.
At my training program, very few people went to courses. Basically only those who had difficulty (ie low scores) on the in-training. At my current institution almost all the residents go.
As an anesthesia resident, you take the in-training exam every July which is the actual ABA exam. You will be sitting in the same room, even next to, people taking it "for real". It doesn't count towards board certification unless you have finished residency or are within about 1.5mo of finishing. Each year you will get your score and feedback of key words for questions you missed, something like "Interscalene block, complications" or "MV regurgitation, PAOP tracing". These can be used to target your studying and weak areas. Most programs also use the AKT at 1 mo, 6 mo and 18 months. The Anesthesia Knowledge Test also gives you keywords. And at the 18 month level gives you scores in 6 areas: OB, Peds, Cardiovascular, Critical Care, PACU and ? something else don't recall now. Both exams (ITE/ABA and AKT) give you a percentile rank. For the ABA you need to be around the 30th percentile (70% of examinees scoring higher than you) to pass. The pass rates are btw 70 and 80%. So just after your intern year (and some programs before intern year) about July 10, you take the ABA exam. You get a two digit score which is compared against all others in the country at your level of training for a percentile rank. Each year, you should improve (duh!). The average improvement is 5 - 7 points. If you are below the 30th percentile then you need to do better than average. I have residents who have jumped 14 points in a year. But it requires hard work.
Some do questions, some attend review sessions, study together. Do what works for you.
personally I don't like doing practice questions. I like reading -- so I read NEJM, JAMA, A&A and Anesthesiology every week/month. The intro and discussion are full of great clinical information and extra learning. It also made a great impression on my attendings. I read every syllabus I got and discussed with attendings during cases. You have to make the effort - we're busy running from room to room most days (and PACU and Pre-op). My residents and CRNAs usually eat lunch before I do.
The written exam should be easy because you take it several times for practice and the answer is right in front of you. And some questions appear several years in a row.
The orals are the real kicker. If your training program offers mock orals (and they all should), then take advantage of it. Study and prepare for it like you do the written. You'll build confidence if you do better each time. I used Board Stiff Too and read the intro chapters every time I went to mock orals. By the end of second year, I was "passing" with real board examiners. I practiced my stock answers for things like hypoxia, neurologic injury, hypotension...
Books I liked:
Michelle Starr for written. Very high yield.
Tetzlaff's Local Anesthetics. Easy read.
Anesthesia and Coexisting Dz
Board Stiff Too
Gaba, Crisis Management
Question book that went with Barash. Mine is an older edition, not sure if it is still around
And pick a large textbook to answer specific questions. You dont necessarily need to read Miller or Barash cover to cover.
Books I didn't care for:
Yao - hard to read
Fleisher - Evidenced Based Practice. I didn't agree with some of his interpretations of the research.
Anesthesia Secrets - some mistakes
Books others liked but I didn't use
Faust (has some mistakes in it)
Blue question book (I dont remember authors name)
At my training program, very few people went to courses. Basically only those who had difficulty (ie low scores) on the in-training. At my current institution almost all the residents go.
As an anesthesia resident, you take the in-training exam every July which is the actual ABA exam. You will be sitting in the same room, even next to, people taking it "for real". It doesn't count towards board certification unless you have finished residency or are within about 1.5mo of finishing. Each year you will get your score and feedback of key words for questions you missed, something like "Interscalene block, complications" or "MV regurgitation, PAOP tracing". These can be used to target your studying and weak areas. Most programs also use the AKT at 1 mo, 6 mo and 18 months. The Anesthesia Knowledge Test also gives you keywords. And at the 18 month level gives you scores in 6 areas: OB, Peds, Cardiovascular, Critical Care, PACU and ? something else don't recall now. Both exams (ITE/ABA and AKT) give you a percentile rank. For the ABA you need to be around the 30th percentile (70% of examinees scoring higher than you) to pass. The pass rates are btw 70 and 80%. So just after your intern year (and some programs before intern year) about July 10, you take the ABA exam. You get a two digit score which is compared against all others in the country at your level of training for a percentile rank. Each year, you should improve (duh!). The average improvement is 5 - 7 points. If you are below the 30th percentile then you need to do better than average. I have residents who have jumped 14 points in a year. But it requires hard work.
Some do questions, some attend review sessions, study together. Do what works for you.
personally I don't like doing practice questions. I like reading -- so I read NEJM, JAMA, A&A and Anesthesiology every week/month. The intro and discussion are full of great clinical information and extra learning. It also made a great impression on my attendings. I read every syllabus I got and discussed with attendings during cases. You have to make the effort - we're busy running from room to room most days (and PACU and Pre-op). My residents and CRNAs usually eat lunch before I do.
The written exam should be easy because you take it several times for practice and the answer is right in front of you. And some questions appear several years in a row.
The orals are the real kicker. If your training program offers mock orals (and they all should), then take advantage of it. Study and prepare for it like you do the written. You'll build confidence if you do better each time. I used Board Stiff Too and read the intro chapters every time I went to mock orals. By the end of second year, I was "passing" with real board examiners. I practiced my stock answers for things like hypoxia, neurologic injury, hypotension...
Books I liked:
Michelle Starr for written. Very high yield.
Tetzlaff's Local Anesthetics. Easy read.
Anesthesia and Coexisting Dz
Board Stiff Too
Gaba, Crisis Management
Question book that went with Barash. Mine is an older edition, not sure if it is still around
And pick a large textbook to answer specific questions. You dont necessarily need to read Miller or Barash cover to cover.
Books I didn't care for:
Yao - hard to read
Fleisher - Evidenced Based Practice. I didn't agree with some of his interpretations of the research.
Anesthesia Secrets - some mistakes
Books others liked but I didn't use
Faust (has some mistakes in it)
Blue question book (I dont remember authors name)
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Michelle starr read it 5 -6 times in its entirety prior to written
essential oral board review.. Michael HO.. only answer for the orals.. Dont try to do it on your own.. Too costly if you fail..
I followed michael Ho around the country for 7 months before the orals.. There was absolutely no question about my results when i took it for real.
Michael Ho would toy with those board examiners..
essential oral board review.. Michael HO.. only answer for the orals.. Dont try to do it on your own.. Too costly if you fail..
I followed michael Ho around the country for 7 months before the orals.. There was absolutely no question about my results when i took it for real.
Michael Ho would toy with those board examiners..
