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Anyone else taking it?
I thought it was a very difficult test but pretty fair. It was a bit longer than I thought it was going to be, and most of it had a CCM bent, though a few questions we're geared more towards cardiologists (at least as it seemed to me). I have heard that NBE exams in general are tough and passing rates can be as low 70%. Fingers crossed.Look forward to any feedback you guys have (in case end up taking it next year)
I feel the exact same. Best of luck to you!Dang. That was a very difficult test. Caught me off guard. I honestly did not think I was going to be there for 4 hours. There were some very tricky, nuanced clinical vignettes. I liked the fact that the questions felt real and that they expect a lot out of the examinees. However, I would not be surprised if i didnt pass. If nothing else, I learned a ton of echo over the past couple of months.
I took the SCCM board review course and reviewed the on demand videos afterwords. The eMedical Academy also had a set of 250 review questions, which were especially good for physics. ASE guidelines are also useful.What'd you use to study?
Exactly. Not allowing focused echoes is a crock. I think they just decreased people's interest in taking the exam in the future. According to my fellow procedure log, I had 116 TTEs in fellowship, but I didn't record how many were complete exams, versus focused exams (still all the standard views, but without tissue doppler, M-mode, or other doppler evaluation that want needed) to answer a question. Also, if exams are acquired at two institutions (say, fellowship and ones new job), are they going to pitch a fit that your current department head cannot attest to exams obtained in fellowship, necessitating multiple letters (of course, they won't tell you this until they deny the application a year after submission)?Has anyone looked into the requirements to become board certified in critical care echocardiography (i.e. the steps you have to take after passing the CCeEXAM)?
They want us to perform 150 "complete" echo exams, including a bunch of M-mode measurements that nobody will ever use. With each exam taking about half an hour, it's a huge time investment for something that still has no tangible benefit.
You can also get the 150 exams spread out over three years at your current job. You'll need a letter from your PD confirming that you completed fellowship, then a letter from a "supervisor" attesting to the number of exams you did. "A portion" of those exams must be over-read by the supervisor, who must be APTE or ASCE certified. With this pathway, you must also submit evidence of echo CME (20 hours?).So for those of us who have already completed CC fellowship, we need to have logged 150 complete exams during fellowship and get that number signed off by our old director to get certified? LOL, I was considering taking the exam this January but Ima have to pass if there's not some easier method to grandfather people into certification
So for those of us who have already completed CC fellowship, we need to have logged 150 complete exams during fellowship and get that number signed off by our old director to get certified? LOL, I was considering taking the exam this January but Ima have to pass if there's not some easier method to grandfather people into certification
Any CCM fellowship-trained physician that wants to be certified has those minimums. Like I said, I think those requirements took some of the enthusiasm out of applying, or even taking the test.
Does that certification mean anything in the real world? Meaning salary?
Any CCM fellowship-trained physician that wants to be certified has those minimums. Like I said, I think those requirements took some of the enthusiasm out of applying, or even taking the test.
That's what they drilled into the fellows in my class, so that's what we did. My PD had a good idea of what was coming, and he made it clear that he expected all of his fellows to pass the test, and obtain certification. I did a ton of POCUS exams as well, but did close to the required number of complete exams for practice (guessed they'd only require 100, logged 116). Unfortunately, I inadvertently deleted my detailed log (just have the 'complete TTE exam' box checked in my fellow log to keep track of numbers), so I doubt I'll get to count any from that year. My present job, likewise, doesn't really have a good way for me to store my bedside exams, and the device we have on the unit can't do a full exam with doppler, color, TDI in an efficient manner, so I'll likely not apply for certification. Bummer.I call bs that most fellows met the certification req which includes completing 150 exams, all with ~14-16 comprehensive TTE views plus CFD and spectral doppler and the required measurements.....unless they were specifically doing so in order to get certified. I finished CC fellowship before I knew this exam existed and literally everyone used limited TTE in a POCUS fashion to answer a particular question, even in the CTICU. I saved my comprehensive exams for the 100+ TEEs I did in the OR...
Tough exam today. Not sure what neurology critical care, surgery critical care and pulm critical care folks thought about that exam. Much more geared towards cardiology and CV anesthesia CTICU folks. Very very heavy cardiac based.
Lots of mitral inflow, doppler, etc.
HiCongrats on getting the 150!
If you don't mind:
1. What did you consider a "complete" transthoracic echo. Did you do color flow, doppler, diastology, all the measurements on each like a formal cardiology echo? or more like a bedside echo should be just all the images and maybe some CFD or doppler directed at answering a specific question?
2. Can you come back and let us know if you get it? I'm interested in knowing what they want in terms of "complete".
The definition of "complete" is just non-existent. I even emailed them to ask and the NBE staff basically said they don't know either.
Wow, sorry, I'm on SDN so sporadically these days, I didn't even see this comment until a year later!Congrats on getting the 150!
If you don't mind:
1. What did you consider a "complete" transthoracic echo. Did you do color flow, doppler, diastology, all the measurements on each like a formal cardiology echo? or more like a bedside echo should be just all the images and maybe some CFD or doppler directed at answering a specific question?
2. Can you come back and let us know if you get it? I'm interested in knowing what they want in terms of "complete".
The definition of "complete" is just non-existent. I even emailed them to ask and the NBE staff basically said they don't know either.
I don't understand what you are trying to say. Respectfully, can you expand. thanksAny CCM fellowship-trained physician that wants to be certified has those minimums. Like I said, I think those requirements took some of the enthusiasm out of applying, or even taking the test.
Anyone possessing ASCE or APTE certifications, and willing to review a portion of your portfolio, is a qualified supervisor, I believe.I'm still confused by what constitutes a "qualified supervisor". Can anyone define? Seems very vague...