Dallas Pre-Exam Course!
After repeated requests, ExamPro will finally be in Dallas to help candidates with last minute assistance immediately prior to their exam. Our pre-exam course includes a private mock oral as well as a series of brief lectures on final oral 'touch-ups'. It will provide you with:
1. One last, final opportunity to run any concerns you may have regarding your case list, with a professional expert
2. Summaries of the latest ACOG publications
3. A review of recent changes in standard of care
4. Familiarity with the literature your examiner is reading (ABOG's ABC articles)
5. An opportunity to smooth out any wrinkles in your presentation
It is limited to 8 candidates per course, to assure personalized attention and lasts a little less than half a day. We recommend this course be taken the day before your exam, since its entire structure is designed to require no further study, but to be fresh in your mind when you walk into the exam.
Please click here and scroll down to choose which course you want to attend.
You Want To Succeed With ExamPro!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Do OBGYNs Face a Conflict of Interests?
Who would ever have thought that doctors would experience a potential conflict of interest in their attempt to provide the best possible care to their community. How so?
It is imperative to state at the outset that issues presented in this article this are simply an observation by the author of concerns expressed by OBGYNs across the nation, and are not in any way, an opinion or judgment of whether or not these concerns are well or ill-conceived.
Most OBGYNS are aware of the trend that more and more females are coming into the profession. While this is absolutely and appropriately the right of every physician, regardless of gender to decide how they wish to specialize, this does however have a potential deleterious effect on the provision of OBGYN services to communities across the country. This is because on average, female OBGYNs work fewer hours per week than their male counterparts. The consequence is that less OBGYN service is available to the community (at a national level) and thus every OBGYN-hour worked has to accommodate a larger and larger workload. Keep in mind that the average OBGYN works way in excess of a 40 hour week! They thus have to spend their time more efficaciously than ever before. Anything that might take time away from their ability to provide service could be argued as being counter to the patient’s or community’s interest.
What about the time taken to maintain competence as a physician? I don’t believe anyone would argue that this is a critical and vital part of being a physician and providing quality service. Does there ever arise however, a situation where the return on increasing time demands of CME and certification, results in diminishing time to provide patient care, and thus compromise the overall quality of care to the community/nation? Have we possibly moved beyond the point of maximum benefit? While the answer to this question is moot because the new Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process is cast in stone, the time requirement to fulfill the new MOC process could be used to argue this point.
It certainly has ruffled many feathers of OBGYNs across the nation. OBGYNs are most bothered by the new MOC Part 3 exam which will first be offered in 2012. Since this exam has never before been taken, no one knows exactly what to expect. Certain indications from ABOG however, do suggest that a fair amount of additional reading/studying might well be advantageous for anyone taking this exam. For example, re-reading/revisiting the 45 annually prescribed ‘ABC’ articles (a total of 270 articles over the 6 year cycle), can be extremely time consuming to say the least. This does not address any other reading that might be considered beneficial to the exam candidate.
So what are the time considerations consequent upon this additional study load? Well for those who read something once and remember it forever, this should not pose too much of a problem. The trouble is such people probably do not constitute the majority of the OBGYN population. It could be argued that on average, an additional hour per week represents a 1-3% reduction in time available to patients.
Whether OBGYNS will compromise patient time or personal time is an additional fair question! Only time will tell if improved quality of care comes at the price of decreased quantity of care!
It is imperative to state at the outset that issues presented in this article this are simply an observation by the author of concerns expressed by OBGYNs across the nation, and are not in any way, an opinion or judgment of whether or not these concerns are well or ill-conceived.
Most OBGYNS are aware of the trend that more and more females are coming into the profession. While this is absolutely and appropriately the right of every physician, regardless of gender to decide how they wish to specialize, this does however have a potential deleterious effect on the provision of OBGYN services to communities across the country. This is because on average, female OBGYNs work fewer hours per week than their male counterparts. The consequence is that less OBGYN service is available to the community (at a national level) and thus every OBGYN-hour worked has to accommodate a larger and larger workload. Keep in mind that the average OBGYN works way in excess of a 40 hour week! They thus have to spend their time more efficaciously than ever before. Anything that might take time away from their ability to provide service could be argued as being counter to the patient’s or community’s interest.
What about the time taken to maintain competence as a physician? I don’t believe anyone would argue that this is a critical and vital part of being a physician and providing quality service. Does there ever arise however, a situation where the return on increasing time demands of CME and certification, results in diminishing time to provide patient care, and thus compromise the overall quality of care to the community/nation? Have we possibly moved beyond the point of maximum benefit? While the answer to this question is moot because the new Maintenance of Certification (MOC) process is cast in stone, the time requirement to fulfill the new MOC process could be used to argue this point.
It certainly has ruffled many feathers of OBGYNs across the nation. OBGYNs are most bothered by the new MOC Part 3 exam which will first be offered in 2012. Since this exam has never before been taken, no one knows exactly what to expect. Certain indications from ABOG however, do suggest that a fair amount of additional reading/studying might well be advantageous for anyone taking this exam. For example, re-reading/revisiting the 45 annually prescribed ‘ABC’ articles (a total of 270 articles over the 6 year cycle), can be extremely time consuming to say the least. This does not address any other reading that might be considered beneficial to the exam candidate.
So what are the time considerations consequent upon this additional study load? Well for those who read something once and remember it forever, this should not pose too much of a problem. The trouble is such people probably do not constitute the majority of the OBGYN population. It could be argued that on average, an additional hour per week represents a 1-3% reduction in time available to patients.
Whether OBGYNS will compromise patient time or personal time is an additional fair question! Only time will tell if improved quality of care comes at the price of decreased quantity of care!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
