ABEM News

ABEM NEWS MyEMCert: Transforming Continuing Certification to Meet Today’s Emergency Physicians Where They Are

The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) launched the first three modules of MyEMCert this spring, offering a new way for emergency physicians to stay certified. Physicians have provided overwhelmingly positive responses due to MyEMCert’s convenience, flexibility, and relevance to clinical practice. MyEMCert was created by emergency physicians, for emergency physicians. ABEM surveyed thousands of physicians and consulted many Emergency Medicine organizations to ensure MyEMCert met the needs of busy physicians. MyEMCert advances ABEM’s mission of upholding the highest standards of patient care, encouraging continuous learning, and improving medical practice, while maintaining convenience for physicians. MyEMCert meets emergency physicians where they are—allowing doctors to answer questions at a time and place of their choosing, including their own homes—instead of requiring a high-stakes exam be incorporated into their busy lives. Emergency physicians no longer need to travel to a testing center to take an exam.

MyEMCert consists of eight modules that focus on real-world scenarios that emergency physicians often see in daily practice, like trauma and bleeding and thoracorespiratory conditions. The modules are designed to give immediate feedback by providing the correct answers with rationales so that physicians can learn as they go. Physicians must complete four modules every five years to stay certified. The modules are open book and topic-specific, so physicians do not have to spend time memorizing facts for an exam. If physicians feel the need to prepare, they may wish to study the topic and review the resources provided by ABEM before beginning a module. Learn more about the module content on ABEM’s website (www.abem.org/public/stay-certified/ myemcert/module-content). MyEMCert integrates key clinical advances to ensure new information and practices spread throughout the specialty at a faster rate. Physicians should access the Key Advances synopses (www.abem.org/public/staycertified/myemcert/key-advances) and learning resources prior to starting a module and reference them while completing the module itself. ABEM President-Elect, Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, shared her perspective on ABEM’s transition to MyEMCert modules. “ABEM is excited to roll out a formative assessment that provides a unique opportunity to engage emergency physicians in a format that is more relevant and flexible.” she said. “Emergency physicians face many demands, and we hope the switch to MyEMCert makes continuing certification more convenient while allowing physicians to learn and stay updated on key advances in the specialty.” ABEM encourages certified physicians to learn more and explore the key benefits of MyEMCert (www.abem.org/public/stay-certified/myemcert) as they are able, and to try it out with the free demo module available on the ABEM portal.

When Do Physcians Need to Take MyEMCert Modules?

Use the ü ABEM Reqs tool to learn when you should plan to take MyEMCert modules.