Resident OrientationMedical School

Residency &

Fellowship

Examination &

Certification

Professional

Development & MOC

Outcomes: Healthy Children

About the American Board of Pediatrics

• Sole mission is to the public.

• One of the 24 specialty boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)

• Certifies physicians with specialized education and clinical expertise in the care of children (general and subspecialties)

• Standards of certification set by practicing pediatriciansEstablished 1933

The ABP certifies general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists based on standards of excellence that lead to high quality health care.

Certification provides assurance to the public that a general pediatrician or pediatric subspecialist has successfully completed accredited training and fulfills continuous evaluation requirements that encompass the six core competencies.

Purpose of Certification• Improve care of children• Assure standardized training and promote evidence-based care• Provide accountability to the public that the general pediatrician and

subspecialist has unique skills to provide routine and complex care and that they maintain those skills over time

ABP Mission

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

• Members pay dues

• Advocates for children & pediatricians

• Source of continuing medical education in pediatrics

American Board of Pediatrics (ABP)

• Certifies pediatricians, known as diplomates

• Develops & administers In-Training, Certifying, & Maintenance of Certification (MOC) examinations

• Creates & manages process of MOC to ensure ongoing mastery of the six core competencies initially assessed during training

AAP & ABP

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

(ACGME)

• Accredits training programs

• Develops the accreditation requirements for training programs

• Evaluates programs through site visits and data collection

• Certifies individual pediatricians

• Sets the standards residents must meet during training to be admitted to the initial certification examination

• Works closely with ACGME to ensure that requirements for program accreditation & standards for certification of individuals are aligned

ACGME & ABPAmerican Board of Pediatrics

(ABP)

Data Reported Annually to the ABP

• Clinical competence may be evaluated as either satisfactory, marginal, or unsatisfactory.

• Anything from less than satisfactory performance does have ramifications.

• Professionalism may be evaluated as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

• Program Directors provide end-of-year evaluations for each resident in two areas: clinical competence & professionalism.

Clinical Competence

• Satisfactory• Marginal• Unsatisfacto

ry

Professionalism

•Satisfactory•Unsatisfactory

The ABP and the ACGME have developed descriptions of observable behaviors, called Milestones, to be used in assessing

the development of competence in the six core domains.

Milestones & Competencies

Practicing

Pediatrician

Resident

MedicalStudent

Patient Care

Interpersonal & Communication

Skills

Practice-Based Learning &

Improvement

Systems-Based

Practice

Professionalism

Your progress through these developmental milestones will be assessed in a variety of ways throughout your training.

Milestones

• Milestones are reported twice a year to ACGME and your performance reflects on both you and your training program.

• ABP expects programs to use milestones to inform their annual assessment of residents’ clinical competence and professionalism.

• Milestones are reported to ACGME but NOT to ABP at the present time.

Annual In-Training ExaminationPurpose:

Designed as an abbreviated version of the certifying exam

To enable residents to assess strengths and weaknesses in knowledge at the time of the exam

To assess progress from year-to-year and predict performance on the certifying examination

To compare performance with national peer groups

• One day exam given annually in the Fall

• Cost ~$2,200

• Must complete training successfully and be verified by program director

• Exam eligibility lasts 7 years

• Must also have an unrestricted medical license

• Results reported to Program Director

Certifying Examination Factoids

Review A Guide for Board Certification - A Booklet of Information for details

• Exam material is confidential and protected by federal copyright law

• Sharing of exam content is a violation of honor code

• Honor code signed during application and exam administration

ITE & Certification Exam Security

What is MOC?

• 4-part program that you begin once you have passed your initial certification examination

• Evaluates the same 6 core competencies measured throughout training

• Competencies are assessed in 5-year cycles, as defined by Maintenance of Certification

Maintenance of Certification (MOC) is:

ABP Website

The ABP website is a valuable resource for

information

www.abp.org

•Eligibility and training requirements•How to become certified•How to maintain certification•General Pediatrics Exam Content Outline (abp.org/content/general-pediatrics-content-outline)