Prospective investigation of factors associated with success on the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care certification examination (2016‐2018)

Abstract

Objective To assess the association of candidate attributes and residency training factors with success on the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC) board certification examination and to develop multivariable models of first‐attempt success. Design Prospective survey‐based study. Setting Post‐assessment ACVECC examination candidates. Animals None. Interventions None. Measurements and main results Comprehensive surveys were distributed to ACVECC examination candidates in 2016 to 2018 after completion of their assessments, but prior to publication of examination results. Unique anonymous candidate identification numbers were used to match survey responses to outcome data from the office of the ACVECC Executive Secretary. After curation to retain only the first response from each candidate, there were 97 unique candidate responses available for analysis. Univariate analyses identified multiple factors associated with first‐attempt success and multiple differences between academic and private practice residency programs. Multivariable logistic regression modeling suggested that 5 factors were independently associated with first‐attempt success on the ACVECC examination, specifically younger age, more weeks of study prior to the examination, training at a facility with more ACVECC Diplomates, training at a facility with more ACVECC residents, and having no requirement to manage both Emergency Room (ER) and Critical Care (CC) cases simultaneously. Conclusions Numerous resident and training center factors are associated with success in the ACVECC board certification examination. Residents and training centers might be able to use these data to enhance training, but caution must be exercised because these data are associative only.

Residency program factors affecting ACVS board examination pass rates from 2017 to 2021: A survey of ACVS small animal surgery residency programs

“…Improved board examination pass rates have been found in academic residency programs for veterinary ophthalmology and small animal emergency and critical care, similar to the findings of this study. 13,14,16 Specifically, academic residents were significantly more likely to pass the written portion of the ACVO board examination compared to PP residents 13 and small animal academic residents had a significantly higher first-time board examination pass rate for the ACVECC board examination compared to PP residents. 14 In contrast, a study evaluating factors associated with pass rates of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) general examination found no significant difference between pass rates in academia and PP.…”

“…16 In addition, it was noted that academic residency programs had greater numbers of ACVECC Diplomates and residents in training. 16 Program size was also positively correlated with success on the board certification examination for the American Board of Surgery. 9 The number of board-certified veterinary surgeons, the number of residents, and the ratio between them were not influential factors in the present study.…”

“…In veterinary emergency and critical care, Goggs et al found independent associations between younger age and more weeks of study prior to the examination with first-time success on the ACVECC examination. 16 Determining if such individual resident factors affect ACVS board examination pass rates has potential implications for resident selection. Additionally, if individual resident factors are known, they can be accounted for in future prospective studies on residency factors making analyses more accurate.…”

“…13,14 Recently, a prospective study found factors associated with first-attempt success of the ACVECC board examination; training at programs with more ACVECC Diplomates, training at programs with more ACVECC residents, and having no requirement to manage both Emergency Room and Critical Care cases simultaneously, were independently associated with firstattempt success. 16 These results suggest that the type of residency training program may influence examination success rate.…”

“…Published analyses of factors associated with board examination pass rates for other veterinary specialty residency programs include ophthalmology, emergency and critical care, and internal medicine. [13][14][15][16] Evaluation of examination performance of candidates of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) and small animal candidates of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC), respectively, found higher first-time board examination pass rates for residents in academic programs (AP) compared to private practice (PP). 13,14 Recently, a prospective study found factors associated with first-attempt success of the ACVECC board examination; training at programs with more ACVECC Diplomates, training at programs with more ACVECC residents, and having no requirement to manage both Emergency Room and Critical Care cases simultaneously, were independently associated with firstattempt success.…”