News For Program Directors

ABEM is proud to announce the development of the new Certifying Exam. The new in-person exam will launch in 2026 at the AIME Center, a professional assessment center in Raleigh, NC.

Over the past two years, the Becoming Certified Task Force completed a rigorous review of feedback and engagement with emergency physicians, health care leaders, and the public to examine the process for physicians to become ABEM certified. ABEM learned that we should create an assessment that is even more relevant to practice, and assesses additional competencies that the Oral Exam format cannot such as procedural skills, patient centered communications, difficult conversations, and troubleshooting. It will be comprised of two case types: Clinical care cases and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) cases. The Qualifying Exam will not change.

ABEM Webinar for Program Directors and Core Faculty
March 11, 2024, at 3 p.m. Eastern.
Register here
A recording of the webinar will be made available on the ABEM website shortly after the event.

CORD Academic Assembly | March 27, 2024 | New Orleans
After the CORD Business Meeting and Awards Recognition, ABEM will host a dedicated session from 12-12:45 pm. Eastern. Immediately after the session, ABEM will have a separate room staffed by Directors to answer your PD/Program-specific questions.

AAEM Scientific Assembly | April 27 – May 1, 2024 | Austin, Texas
ABEM is collaborating with AAEM-RSA on a live information session. Details will be made available soon.

Speaker Request
Are you involved with a regional meeting or conference, host a blog or podcast, or know of opportunities where ABEM can provide an update on the changes to residents and core faculty? Complete the ABEM Speaker Request

Learn more about the Certifying Exam
Why Raleigh, NC?
Summary of Becoming Certified Initiative Feedback
Key Findings of the Becoming Certified Initiative

Your feedback is important. Let us know if you have questions.

The Board of Directors has approved a new attestation for program directors to attest to each graduating resident’s successful completion of individual competencies.

In 2024, responding negatively to a resident’s competencies will not affect the resident’s eligibility to apply for initial certification and take the Qualifying Examination. Based on the data from this year, ABEM may modify the verification form that will go into effect in 2025 and will count toward board eligibility. A copy of the attestation can be found here.

Requests for credit for training in other specialties for an incoming resident or fellow must be submitted to and approved by ABEM BEFORE the resident transfers into a program. A copy of the block diagram for both the original (or sending) program that shows the resident’s rotation schedule to-date is required. A block diagram for the accepting program that shows a typical rotation schedule for any enrolled EM resident along with a proposed schedule with modifications for the transferring resident is also required.

The form, ABEM Request for Credit for Training in Other Specialties, must be typed. Handwritten requests will not be accepted.

More information
Policy on Credit for Training in Other Specialties

A new resource is available to help calculate the date for an off-cycle resident to progress to the next academic year (level) or graduate to meet the requirements of ABEM board eligibility.

To use the calculator:

Go to the Program Resources page of the ABEM website
Download and open the form
Enter values in the green cells to calculate
Save the sheet as a PDF for your records

We thank Michele Floring, C-TAME, EM Residency Coordinator at Creighton of Phoenix (Arizona) for sharing this calculator.

Applications for the first HALM Examination are now open. Certification in HALM will provide physicians the opportunity to enhance their practice and set standards in physician leadership. This new subspecialty certification is geared toward institutional leaders, including physicians who work in community hospitals. Physicians with experience in health systems leadership are encouraged to apply.* The exam will be offered every other year, in even-numbered years through Pearson Vue’s online, remote proctored system. Learn more, review eligibility, and apply here.

HALM Exam | November 11-26, 2024

Application Open | January 22 – July 30, 2024
$470 application fee

Registration and Scheduling for Accepted Applications

Closes September 16, 2024

$1,745 registration fee

In September, those whose applications have been accepted will receive instructions for registering and scheduling their exams via Pearson VUE online testing.

* Applications are open to any physician certified by an ABMS member board. Physicians certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology, the American Board of Family Medicine, and the American Board of Preventive Medicine must apply through their certifying boards.

The Oral Certification Exam tests different knowledge, skills, and abilities than the Qualifying Exam.
Gorgas DL, Calderon Y, Carter WA, White SR, Feldhaus KM, Reisdorff EJ, Joldersma KB, Kraus CK. The correlation between performance on the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) qualifying and oral certifying examinations. Acad Emerg Med 2024;31(1):91-3. PMID: 37515431.

There is a crisis of attrition and a need to keep EPs (particularly female EPs) engaged early in their careers.
Gettel CJ, Courtney DM, Agrawal P, Madsen TE, Rothenberg, C, Mills AM, Lall MD, Keim SM, Kraus CK, Ranney ML, Venkatesh AK. Emergency medicine physician workforce attrition differences by age and gender [abstract only]. Acad Emerg Med 2023;30(11):1092-100. PMID: 37313983.

Board certification has income return on investment of $43,000 per year.
Reisdorff EJ, Masselink LE, Gallahue FE, Suter RE, Chappell BP, Evans DD, Salsberg E, Marco CA. Factors associated with emergency physician income. J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open 2023;4(2):e12949. PMID: 37064163.

We need to prioritize emergency physician wellness across the career spectrum.
Lu DW, Zhan T, Bilimoria KY, Reisdorff EJ, Barton MA, Nelson LS, Beeson MS, Lall MD. Workplace mistreatment, career choice regret, and burnout in emergency medicine residency training in the United States. Ann Emerg Med. 2023;81(6):706-14. PMID: 36754699.

COVID-19 did not impact career choice in emergency medicine residents.
Akhavan AR, Zhan T, Lall MD, Barton MA, Reisdorff EJ, Bilimoria KY, MD, Lu DW. Suicidal ideation, perception of personal safety, and career regret among emergency medicine residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accepted January 2024, AEM Educ Train.