The next board exams for anesthesiology credentialing
will be held in
New York,
the week of
October 5-9,
2009.
Helpful Hint
Time Management and Outlining
Time management is critical; use the time prior to each exam to outline the case. Your outline should think about the patient’s disease state and how it will affect your anesthesia management (Pre-op, Intra-op, and Post-op). In addition, you should think about the type of surgery (open heart, one lung ventilation, trauma, pediatrics, obstetrics, emergency, etc.) and how that will influence your management. Disease state and type of surgery will influence your request for Pre-op labs, your choice of special monitors, and the anesthetic technique. No question should come as a surprise to you! You should anticipate all Peri-operative management issues including recovery room problems and Post-op pain management problems. It is our belief that a thorough outline of the stem should allow you to anticipate ALL questions the examiner will ask. At the conclusion of this board review you will gain mastery of this critical skill set. We will teach you methods and techniques to enable you to OUTLINE both effectively and efficiently.
Communication
The exam is a Speaking Exam; it is a dialogue which requires a give and take. The examiners ask questions and you do your best to succinctly answer them. This is exactly how you convince the examiner that you deserve to pass. The faculty and I will make sure that you ANSWER the questions. We hammer this home! We look at your facial expression, body language and your speech pattern as you answer each question. We will yell, scream, throw things, and do all sorts of theatrics that can actually occur on the exam, to ensure that you don’t become intimidated. You should be able to maintain your poise and answer any question. No, you are not to give a monologue or a long winded lecture. You need to simply answer the questions asked. Remember, the examiners have a long list of questions to ask while forming an opinion about you. Do not try to “take control” of the exam by a) asking too many questions; b) using too many long pauses; c) speaking too slowly or speaking too quickly.
The Rule of Thumb: Do not speak for more than 2 minutes. Remember, this is a dialogue; the examiner speaks, you speak, and back and forth we go.
Knowledge
A strong knowledge base will be required to successfully pass this exam. If you have a knowledge deficiency, it is imperative that that you focus on your particular areas of weakness. We strongly recommend that all candidates review the last two to three years of the Peer Reviewed ASA Refresher Course lectures: www.lww.com . These are the ones that come in the blue binders. They generally represent topics and lectures that were deemed important enough to be peer reviewed and published. If you have a knowledge deficiency, we will try to focus more on additional topics in order to cover as much material as possible. Again, start by reinforcing your areas of weakness. If knowledge is your problem, we will give our recommendations - tailor made to your needs - to get you prepared.
Judgment
The cases in this course will give you ample opportunity to assess your judgment and your adaptability. This is an area that we will go over with you on an individual basis. There is no scripted formula for making the correct judgment in difficult clinical situations. This is where knowledge, experience, and clinical skills all come together to arrive at a reasonable decision or plan of action. In many clinical situations, you score more points by DOING something, and by taking quick, decisive, and LIFE SAVING CLINICAL ACTION. You score better when you recognize and TREAT a life threatening Venus Air Embolus (VAE) as opposed to rambling off a very long and fancy differential diagnosis. Again, this is an area where we can help you succeed.