Department faculty gathered Tuesday, Feb. 26, to hold the first-ever, full-length applied exam practice session for fellows in the Sorrell Clinical Simulation Lab.
The American Board of Anesthesiology’s applied examination is the third and final exam in the staged exam series, and includes the traditional Standardized Oral Examination (SOE) and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), which was added in 2018. Candidates are required to pass both components of the exam to become board-certified.
"In order to help our fellows prepare for this high-stakes exam, we developed this event to simulate the experience," said Vice Chair of Education Amy Duhachek-Stapelman, MD.
During the practice session, each fellow was evaluated on seven OSCE and two SOE scenarios, similiar to how they will when they take their board examinations this year.
"I am very thankful for the attendings that took time out of their busy schedule to stay late and provide us with a mock exam that will be very similar to how the real one will flow," said Blake Gorman, DO, critical care fellow. "It will be instrumental in helping us to pass the actual exam."
During the four-hour practice session, the fellow performances were video recorded. Those recordings will be assessed by faculty, who will provide each fellow with individualized feedback to help enhance their performance during the actual examination.
Dr. Duhachek-Stapelman and Cathleen Peterson-Layne, MD, PhD, are two department members who were involved in the creation of the OSCE. They ensured the practice applied exam session was relevant and ethical.
"The full-length simulation for the applied exam was an excellent adjunct to traditional board studying," said Brittany Brown, MD, pediatric anesthesiology fellow. "It was as lifelike as possible while giving the attendants the ability to assess their own performance and to receive feedback from the examiners. We are very lucky to have such dedicated staff and fantastic simulation facilities for this event."
Dr. Duhachek-Stapelman thanked the physicians who volunteered their time to provide this valuable opportunity to department fellows. They were:
TJ Lockhart, MD
Cathleen Peterson-Layne, MD, PhD
Cale Kassel, MD
Tom Nicholas, MD
Sheila Ellis, MD
Sasha Shillcutt, MD
Huiling Pang, MD, PhD
Brad Fremming, MD
David Stern, MD
Rebecca Aron, MD
Charles Walcutt, MD
Kristi Lorenzen, MD
Katie Goergen, MD
Amy Duhachek-Stapelman, MD
A similar session will be held Tuesday, April 16, for CA3 residents. Department faculty are encouraged to volunteer.