Attributes of Candidates Passing the ABS Certifying Examination on the First Attempt—Program Directors׳ Perspective

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• 作者：Mohd Raashid Sheikh ; MD^* ; ^{smraashid@gmail.com" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Michael Hulme ; PhD^&dagger ;
• 关键词：ABSITE ; certifying examination ; qualifying examination ; mock orals ; medical knowledge ; interpersonal and communication skills
• 刊名：Journal of Surgical Education
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：March-April 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：73
• 期：2
• 页码：238-244
• 全文大小：933 K

文摘

The American Board of Surgery Certifying Examination (CE) is a pivotal event in a surgeon’s career development, as it is the last challenge before achieving Board certification. First-time pass rate on the CE is one of the key metrics of surgery residency programs. The overall pass rate on the CE has declined significantly in recent years.

Objectives

The goal of this study was the identification of attributes of general surgery residents that are associated with passing the CE at the first attempt.

Methods

The modified Delphi process was used to survey general surgery program directors. The study was conducted in 2 rounds in the interest of time available for surgical education research fellowship project.

Results

All 259 program directors were contacted in each round of surveys. In all, 49 (19%) responded to the first round and 54 (21%) responded to the second round of survey.

Conclusions

The characteristics of a successful resident on CE include confidence, self-motivation, sound knowledge base, strong performance on the Board’s training examination (American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination), and mock orals, and good communication skills. Postgraduate years 4 and 5 are the most likely resident levels at which failure could be predicted.