Why You Should Volunteer as an Oral Board Review Course Examiner
AAEM ORAL BOARD REVIEW COURSE
Frank L. Christopher, MD FAAEM and Michael C. Bond, MD FAAEM
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ince Joe Lex, MD MAAEM, created the Academy’s Oral Board Review Course (OBRC) in 1996, the course has undergone continuous evolution to match the format and content of the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) Oral Certification Examination. In the past three years alone, OBRC has migrated from an in-person hotel-based format held biannually in several different cities using paper and computer based stimuli, to a more frequent web-meeting format utilizing screen-shared digital stimuli. Triplepatient encounters have been phased out and the structured interview format encounters phased in. While the structure, format, and content have changed, some things remain constant. First and foremost, the course relies entirely on board-certified volunteer members of the Academy to serve as instructors. Secondly, the AAEM OBRC is recognized across the emergency medicine community as the premier preparation platform for our new colleagues scheduled to take the Oral Certification Examination. Additionally, membership in the Academy is enhanced as new residency graduates, who may not have joined while in training, become members, whether it be for the discounted course rate or upon learning more about the Academy’s mission and vision. The AAEM OBRC is the only preparatory course that uses the identical software platform as ABEM. Feedback from those who have taken our course has been overwhelmingly positive, indicating that we mimic the complexity, style, and format of the actual Oral Certification Examination exactly.
None, to sign up and get on the instructor list. Whenever the courses are offered, you will be contacted and given the opportunity to volunteer for the course date. Each course runs for approximately five and a half hours. If you’ve never taught before, examiner orientation is provided by AAEM with instructional videos and/or one-on-one web-hosted training.
Oral Board Review Course 2022 Dates: Sep 14, Sep 15, Nov 30, Dec 1 www.aaem.org/education/events/oral-boards
The sheer volume of graduating residents continues to grow, with hundreds of new colleagues preparing to take their Certification Examination every year. With a one-to-one instructor to student ratio, OBRC’s course size is only limited by the number of available examiners. Larger courses, of course, increase AAEM’s exposure to the community, promulgate our educational mission, and partially subsidize other Academy activities. Many examiners desire to “give back” to AAEM but don’t necessarily have the time or opportunity to participate in committees, interest groups, or other leadership positions with larger time requirements. Participating in the OBRC gives them an opportunity to connect with each other, and with the Academy at large, with a smaller time commitment. Many Academy leaders, including the current and several Past Presidents, started their AAEM involvement as OBRC examiners.
COMMON SENSE MAY/JUNE 2022
What’s the commitment?
Build confidence with each case encounter!
Why should you volunteer?
30
Your participation allows our new colleagues to interact with examiners from all walks of EM life—academic, non-academic, urban, rural, government, etc. The course presents diversity in all facets of examiner makeup.
What are the benefits of serving as an examiner? Mentoring future board-certified emergency medicine physicians, networking with fellow AAEM examiners, national involvement for those needing it for promotion, faculty CME, an invitation to attend an annual reception at Scientific Assembly, and a stipend ($100) for each course. As ABEM’s Becoming Certified initiative presents recommendations for changing how our EM colleagues achieve initial board certification, you can be assured the AAEM OBRC will continue to evolve concurrently to ensure we retain the high quality and relevancy expected of the Academy. Interested in sharing your knowledge to help prepare candidates for their Oral Certification Exam, please submit the Volunteer Eaminer Interest Form by scanning the QR code below. Please contact Tom Derenne, AAEM Program Manager, at tderenne@ aaem.org or (800) 884-2236 with any questions.