MyEMCert is a completely different approach to continuing certification. It has been open and available to diplomates for over a year and the response has been enthusiastic. No more five-hour, high-stakes exam every ten years. No more missed shifts to take an exam. No more travel to an exam center. But it does depend upon your engagement and your willingness to learn!
MyEMCert provides a convenient way to learn and recertify at the same time. Short, 50-question modules that can be taken at home, whenever you wish. Modules can be stopped and then restarted. Because it is open book, you can use the same reference materials that you use at work, or at home, to answer your clinical questions.. Immediate feedback is provided about whether you answered a question correctly and brief rationales explaining why. These were all suggestions proposed to ABEM by emergency physicians to improve the recertification process.
The most common suggestion was to design a process that would “make me a better doctor.” We believe that we have done just that. MyEMCert incorporates learning into the recertification process:
Immediate feedback to questions and accompanying rationales allows you to see what questions you answered correctly or why you may have gotten the question wrong.
- Key Advances, based on ABEM synopses, highlight some of the most clinically relevant emerging literature. They are intended to amplify scientifically valid medical innovations so that you can use them to improve patient care. Synopses of each advance are available in the MyEMCert platform while you take the module, and on the public ABEM website. Educational videos about Key Advances can be viewed from the website or from the ABEM YouTube channel.
- Teaching points are available for two modules: Head and Neck and Nontraumatic Musculoskeletal. The teaching points will give you an overview of the topics covered on each module so that you have a guide to preparing in advance. More teaching points are underway.
- A wealth of additional resources are available on the ABEM website for you to review prior to taking a MyEMCert module including sample questions, a quick-start guide, a demo module, and FAQs.
By completing four modules every five years, MyEMCert promotes lifelong learning rather than one high-stakes exam every ten years. Medical advances occur more frequently than every ten years, and ABEM’s new recertification process allows physicians to stay up to date. But please don’t wait until you are nearing your certification end date to start the modules. Start today! Your learning will start also, and you will hopefully have new clinically relevant knowledge to assist you in caring for patients on your next shift. We believe that you will find MyEMCert low stress, engaging, relevant, and convenient. We’re looking for Key Advance ideas; submit yours here. Let us know what you think about MyEMCert modules here.
