According to the American Board of Dermatology (ABD), Board Certification in Dermatology is “designed to assure the public that a certified medical specialist has successfully completed an approved educational program and an evaluation, including an examination process designed to assess the knowledge, experience, and skills requisite to the provision of high-quality patient care in that specialty.”1 This is of vital importance to our specialty and other medical specialties. However, several issues need to be addressed to improve the current certifying, and perhaps also the re-certifying, examination.
DETERMINING WHICH KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS TO TEST
What are the knowledge, experience, and skills needed to provide excellent patient care? We believe that the American Board of Dermatology should establish a well-defined “core curriculum,” much like that of our ophthalmology colleagues, that tests the knowledge base needed to practice in the field.
The amount of information available to those who write Board Examination questions has grown and continues to grow at a very rapid rate. But what information is truly important to clinicians? This question is essential to what should and should not be included in our core curriculum.
Is it more important to test clinicians’ ability to manage the side effects and complications of a medication — or their knowledge of a genetic mutation that has only been described in a small number of patients in a limited number of geographic areas? (The latter is often simply forgotten after the exam.)
TEST FORMATS TO CONSIDER
One format to consider would be to present the test-taker with a clinical scenario that focuses on patient presentation, diagnostic ability, treatment, management, and follow-up.
This could easily be done by presenting a clinical scenario and allowing the test-taker to choose diagnostic tests, medications, and follow-up options. The case would progress based on the correct or incorrect options chosen by the test-taker.
In fact, this is the very format currently utilized by the United States Medical License Examination.2 Moreover, this is one of the formats The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology currently uses for continuing medical education.
Some would argue that the more difficult and sometimes obscure questions are needed to separate those who pass the exam from those who do not.
Well, we believe that instead of the exam having a “curve,” the Board should establish a percentage cutoff for passing the Certifying Examination. If we can establish a core curriculum that one needs to master to practice dermatology, shouldn’t knowing a certain (high) percentage of this information be enough to pass the Certifying Examination?
VISUAL SKILLS
Visual skills are vital to a dermatologist and should continue to be tested. Kodachromes and dermatopathology slides should continue to be a part of the examination process.
Furthermore, it is imperative for dermatologists to be able to correlate the visual information with a clinical presentation and dermatopathologic description. This, we believe, should also be extensively tested.
TIMING OF EXAM
Lastly, we need to address the timing of the examination. Many dermatology residency graduates go on to start careers in practice or to pursue fellowships immediately after residency. But some decide to use the time between end of residency and the Certifying Examination to concentrate on studying.
In our opinion, the Certifying Examination should be given either during the last several months of one’s residency or immediately after the residency ends.
GOAL: IMPROVEMENT
Only our most esteemed and respected colleagues are chosen to participate in the American Board of Dermatology.
No doubt, they do a great job. But we believe that like most things, the Dermatology Certifying Examination can be improved.
According to the American Board of Dermatology (ABD), Board Certification in Dermatology is “designed to assure the public that a certified medical specialist has successfully completed an approved educational program and an evaluation, including an examination process designed to assess the knowledge, experience, and skills requisite to the provision of high-quality patient care in that specialty.”1 This is of vital importance to our specialty and other medical specialties. However, several issues need to be addressed to improve the current certifying, and perhaps also the re-certifying, examination.
DETERMINING WHICH KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS TO TEST
What are the knowledge, experience, and skills needed to provide excellent patient care? We believe that the American Board of Dermatology should establish a well-defined “core curriculum,” much like that of our ophthalmology colleagues, that tests the knowledge base needed to practice in the field.
The amount of information available to those who write Board Examination questions has grown and continues to grow at a very rapid rate. But what information is truly important to clinicians? This question is essential to what should and should not be included in our core curriculum.
Is it more important to test clinicians’ ability to manage the side effects and complications of a medication — or their knowledge of a genetic mutation that has only been described in a small number of patients in a limited number of geographic areas? (The latter is often simply forgotten after the exam.)
TEST FORMATS TO CONSIDER
One format to consider would be to present the test-taker with a clinical scenario that focuses on patient presentation, diagnostic ability, treatment, management, and follow-up.
This could easily be done by presenting a clinical scenario and allowing the test-taker to choose diagnostic tests, medications, and follow-up options. The case would progress based on the correct or incorrect options chosen by the test-taker.
In fact, this is the very format currently utilized by the United States Medical License Examination.2 Moreover, this is one of the formats The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology currently uses for continuing medical education.
Some would argue that the more difficult and sometimes obscure questions are needed to separate those who pass the exam from those who do not.
Well, we believe that instead of the exam having a “curve,” the Board should establish a percentage cutoff for passing the Certifying Examination. If we can establish a core curriculum that one needs to master to practice dermatology, shouldn’t knowing a certain (high) percentage of this information be enough to pass the Certifying Examination?
VISUAL SKILLS
Visual skills are vital to a dermatologist and should continue to be tested. Kodachromes and dermatopathology slides should continue to be a part of the examination process.
Furthermore, it is imperative for dermatologists to be able to correlate the visual information with a clinical presentation and dermatopathologic description. This, we believe, should also be extensively tested.
TIMING OF EXAM
Lastly, we need to address the timing of the examination. Many dermatology residency graduates go on to start careers in practice or to pursue fellowships immediately after residency. But some decide to use the time between end of residency and the Certifying Examination to concentrate on studying.
In our opinion, the Certifying Examination should be given either during the last several months of one’s residency or immediately after the residency ends.
GOAL: IMPROVEMENT
Only our most esteemed and respected colleagues are chosen to participate in the American Board of Dermatology.
No doubt, they do a great job. But we believe that like most things, the Dermatology Certifying Examination can be improved.
According to the American Board of Dermatology (ABD), Board Certification in Dermatology is “designed to assure the public that a certified medical specialist has successfully completed an approved educational program and an evaluation, including an examination process designed to assess the knowledge, experience, and skills requisite to the provision of high-quality patient care in that specialty.”1 This is of vital importance to our specialty and other medical specialties. However, several issues need to be addressed to improve the current certifying, and perhaps also the re-certifying, examination.
DETERMINING WHICH KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS TO TEST
What are the knowledge, experience, and skills needed to provide excellent patient care? We believe that the American Board of Dermatology should establish a well-defined “core curriculum,” much like that of our ophthalmology colleagues, that tests the knowledge base needed to practice in the field.
The amount of information available to those who write Board Examination questions has grown and continues to grow at a very rapid rate. But what information is truly important to clinicians? This question is essential to what should and should not be included in our core curriculum.
Is it more important to test clinicians’ ability to manage the side effects and complications of a medication — or their knowledge of a genetic mutation that has only been described in a small number of patients in a limited number of geographic areas? (The latter is often simply forgotten after the exam.)
TEST FORMATS TO CONSIDER
One format to consider would be to present the test-taker with a clinical scenario that focuses on patient presentation, diagnostic ability, treatment, management, and follow-up.
This could easily be done by presenting a clinical scenario and allowing the test-taker to choose diagnostic tests, medications, and follow-up options. The case would progress based on the correct or incorrect options chosen by the test-taker.
In fact, this is the very format currently utilized by the United States Medical License Examination.2 Moreover, this is one of the formats The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology currently uses for continuing medical education.
Some would argue that the more difficult and sometimes obscure questions are needed to separate those who pass the exam from those who do not.
Well, we believe that instead of the exam having a “curve,” the Board should establish a percentage cutoff for passing the Certifying Examination. If we can establish a core curriculum that one needs to master to practice dermatology, shouldn’t knowing a certain (high) percentage of this information be enough to pass the Certifying Examination?
VISUAL SKILLS
Visual skills are vital to a dermatologist and should continue to be tested. Kodachromes and dermatopathology slides should continue to be a part of the examination process.
Furthermore, it is imperative for dermatologists to be able to correlate the visual information with a clinical presentation and dermatopathologic description. This, we believe, should also be extensively tested.
TIMING OF EXAM
Lastly, we need to address the timing of the examination. Many dermatology residency graduates go on to start careers in practice or to pursue fellowships immediately after residency. But some decide to use the time between end of residency and the Certifying Examination to concentrate on studying.
In our opinion, the Certifying Examination should be given either during the last several months of one’s residency or immediately after the residency ends.
GOAL: IMPROVEMENT
Only our most esteemed and respected colleagues are chosen to participate in the American Board of Dermatology.
No doubt, they do a great job. But we believe that like most things, the Dermatology Certifying Examination can be improved.
