The American Board of Surgery (ABS) convened at its winter meeting from January 5 through 9, 2008, at Amelia Island, Florida, under the chairmanship of Dr Tim Flynn. The principal issues addressed are summarized below (Table).
Table.
American Board of Surgery Summary of 2006-2007 Examinations
ExaminationNo. of Examinees(N=12866)aNo. (%)Total No. of DiplomatesPassedFailedQualifying12931010 (78.1)283 (21.9)Recertification17031601 (94.0)102 (6.0)17535Vascular surgery qualifying examination10695 (89.6)11 (10.4)Vascular surgery recertification174163 (93.7)11 (6.3)1612Pediatric surgery qualifying examination6562 (95.4)3 (4.6)Pediatric surgery recertification122116 (95.1)6 (4.9)660Surgical critical care128116 (90.6)12 (9.4)2464Surgical critical care recertification10189 (88.1)12 (11.9)1146Hand surgery63 (50.0)3 (50.0)239Hand surgery recertification1313 (100)0146Pediatric surgery ITE78−−ITE, junior level3940−−ITE, senior level3670−−Certifying12611027 (81.4)234 (18.6)54198Pediatric surgery certifying examination6761 (91.0)6 (9.0)995Vascular surgery certifying examination133112 (84.2)21 (15.8)2676 Abbreviations: ITE, in-training examination; −, number was too small to have a meaningful statistic.
aThere were 5172 examinees if those taking ITEs and pediatric surgery ITEs were excluded.