Pediatric Board Review Course for Residents “at Risk”

Abstract

Pediatric residents at risk for not passing their Pediatric board certification exams benefited from a board review course.

Emergency medicine residents' attitudes and opinions of in-training exam preparation

“…Some prior work in other specialties has shown that directed study can influence in-training exam performance and board pass rates 4–6. To our knowledge, no previously published studies in EM have shown any specific exam preparation technique to be superior.…”

“…The best method of preparation for in-training exams is currently unclear, and programs to aid in preparation have reported mixed results 2–6. Cheng found that an EM residency-developed review course did not affect performance on the in-training exam 2.…”

“…Gillen also failed to demonstrate improved exam performance after implementation of a program that utilized structured reading and graded quizzes 3. However, there is some evidence from other specialties that preparation can in fact improve scores on in-training exams 4–6…”

The remediation challenge: theoretical and methodological insights from a systematic review

“…These findings are at odds with those of a number of studies that have evaluated performance on written or clinical examinations before and after a specific remediation intervention 7,14–38 and concluded that the intervention was effective. However, single studies ‘are limited in the generalisability of the knowledge they produce about concepts, populations, settings and times’ and ‘frequently illuminate only one part of a larger explanatory puzzle’ 39 .…”

Bureaucrapathologies: Galloping Regulosis, Assessment Degradosis, and Other Unintended Organizational Maladies in Post-Graduate Medical Education

“…But, the large majority of residents are presumably doing well enough. Since more than 95 % of those entering post-graduate medical training programs graduate without being terminated [26], senior educators might consider shifting from "universal screening" (a TSA model) to "risk based regulation" (in which "at risk" trainees are quickly spotted and become the primary focus for supervisory intervention) as a better way to invest resources [27]. Many on the front lines question the value of expending considerable resource on these seemingly excessive efforts devoted to the large majority who are doing at least "good enough" work, and for whom no data exists to show that micro-attention to competencies (or feeding central authorities mounds of micro-documentation for intermediate evaluations) offers any added value above "training as usual."…”