Good luck on the In Training Exam

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WilcoWorld

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Not that the results really matter, but nobody likes to bomb a test.

Just remember, when in doubt give steroids...or choose "C".
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My quote "steroids are the duct tape of medicine".
By the way, the PD's put more of an emphasis on the ITE than you think.






WilcoWorld said:
Not that the results really matter, but nobody likes to bomb a test.

Just remember, when in doubt give steroids...or choose "C".
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So does anyone have any cool traditions or plans for after the exam is over?
 
lucky_deadman said:
So does anyone have any cool traditions or plans for after the exam is over?
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My program (University of Chicago) and UIC (University of Illinois @ Chicago), always have a combined in-service exam party afterwards, paid by the program. We usually have it at a bar downtown with in-door basketball courts, beach vollyball, and lots of food and beer. That usually keeps us busy until 6pm when we get dinner and move on to real nightlife.
 
Both sound like good times. I'm trying to set up something of the like up at my place. I doubt I can get the PD to spring for drinks, but who knows. The worst he can say is no; right? :D
 
we have a party. this year, as 5 years ago, it is at one of our associate PD's. They rent a bus, everyone imbibes. I will be working. :(
 
roja said:
we have a party. this year, as 5 years ago, it is at one of our associate PD's. They rent a bus, everyone imbibes. I will be working. :(
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You just have to sneak a drink in and blame it on the drunk in the corner. ;)
 
Our PD takes us all out for lunch & drinks near Christ, then we usually move somewhere downtown for the after party.
 
if i'm a 4th year med student eager to do well on the ITE how do i start training and getting ready to ace it now? seriously, don't make fun of me guys, i just want to learn and do well. are there any books or online resources available?














lol, i kid...
 
bulgethetwine said:
By the way, most PDs really don't. The ones that do, I wouldn't want to work for.
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I agree with the above quote. However, the third year residents did really bad and the PD made them take an ITE again. We were required to make over 33% or go into remediation work.
 
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GeneralVeers said:
33%??? A ******ed monkey with polio could get 33% on the exam.
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Ok. Here we go.

1) A whole lot of questions about digoxin on the exam. Other than digibind for overdose, what do we really have to know? Does anyone really use this any more?

2) What was with the questions about "discharge medications" for cardiology patients??? I don't do freaking inpatient med!

3) Left side down. Right side down. *** side upwards. Holy Christ, can we have more questions about prone ventilation please?

4) Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Who gives a Shiatzsu about what actually causes the fawcking whoop??????????????/

5) I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't treat meningitis or encephalitis with any of the regimens they suggested. Where the hell is the vanc and rocephin, + acyclovir, + amp if the patient is > 55?

Go ahead now, post your pain-in-the-*** stick in your butt "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhh, you can't talk about The hallowed INSERVICE!!!"

suck it. ******ed monkeys with polio, indeed.
 
- The cardiology meds are 20 years out of date.
- Agree about the antibiotics.....BTW some of those listed aren't even available any more.
- What is the most common this? What is the most common that? Who cares?
 
GeneralVeers said:
- 3% of the questions were about cystic fibrosis
- The cardiology meds are 20 years out of date. Why is bretylium even an option? Who uses lidocaine as first-line for cardiac arrhythmias?
- Agree about the antibiotics.....BTW nafcillin isn't even available any more.
- What is the most common this? What is the most common that? Who cares?
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Sounds like most everyone is in agreement about the applicability (or lack thereof) to current EM practice. :beat:
 
Apollyon said:
Talking about the inservice exam - even like you have - may be an ABEM violation. Be careful. It's been clarified that you can talk in person about it (as it is educational), but putting it on an anonymous Internet board could be problematic.
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My understanding from the rules that they sent each of us is that no part of the test may be reproduced under any circumstances, be it written, verbal, or photographic. The percentages of various topics has been widely disseminated in the past. I.E. I know that approximately 10-15% of the exam will be about trauma.
 
Probably better to be overly cautious on this one.

There are other specialty boards who take a very rigid stance and take posting questions (or the basic content of questions) on a board like this *very* seriously. Definitely not worth risking one's board eligibility.
 
Being my first one, I found the experience interesting. At our program, the exam isn't really highly stressed (which is good or bad depending on how you look at it). As interns, we get a free pass and no one expects us to pass it, which is fine cuz it's less stress for us. While I did do some studying, I didn't stress over it. I found the question really came down to knowing something/being exposed to something or not. The other interesting thought about the exam was that many hospitals have different practice patterns, which I felt came into play with certain questions. Overall, I found many of the questions to not be truly relevant to everyday practice...but such are standardized tests. Ehh...whatever, it's over. On to next year.
 
Dr. Will said:
Being my first one, I found the experience interesting. At our program, the exam isn't really highly stressed (which is good or bad depending on how you look at it). As interns, we get a free pass and no one expects us to pass it, which is fine cuz it's less stress for us. While I did do some studying, I didn't stress over it. I found the question really came down to knowing something/being exposed to something or not. The other interesting thought about the exam was that many hospitals have different practice patterns, which I felt came into play with certain questions. Overall, I found many of the questions to not be truly relevant to everyday practice...but such are standardized tests. Ehh...whatever, it's over. On to next year.
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You know what's really funny, I can hear your voice in my head as I read this...
 
SolidGold said:
You know what's really funny, I can hear your voice in my head as I read this...
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Haha....I can hear your voice, too (and the rest of our crew also). We all really do spend too much time together. :laugh: BTW, I still wish that we were able to have your impromptu bachelor party tonight.
 
I felt the need to check the cover of the exam several times to be sure I was taking the EMERGENCY MEDICINE exam. Sure did seem to be an awful lot of internal-medicine-long-after-the-patient-is-admitted type questions to me.

I thought the questions were well written but frequently not very relevant. I found myself annotating the exam with smart *** comments about why I didn't care about what was being asked.

I thought the visual stimuli section was better than the past two years. I could actually read the reprinted ECGs this year.

Take care,
Jeff
 
I kinda liked the format (short questions) and alphabetized short answers.

What I really don't understand is the CORD practice questions...some of them appear to be translated from Chinese into English by one of those internet programs.
 
c.bear said:
I kinda liked the format (short questions) and alphabetized short answers.

What I really don't understand is the CORD practice questions...some of them appear to be translated from Chinese into English by one of those internet programs.
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The CORD questions are some of the worst questions I've ever seen. They were written by program directors, some of whom obviously need a refresher course in proper question writing. Many of the questions were "what am I thinking" and related to random obscure trivia, or some obscure study that the author wanted.

I found the PEER VII questions to be much closer to the in-service.
 
Amen. I love the PEER questions. The CORD tests are awful. For example, I'm not sending anyone home who has a hemoglobin of 3.

Not a bad test, but I agree, lots of IM. There were a couple of humorous questions too that I found myself giggling at. (One of which was an inside joke at my program that we all found pretty funny.)

At least it's over...
 
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