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ARROgram #14
July 20, 2004
ABR Boards Reminder/Drs. Sarah Donaldson and Edward
Halperin Article
1. BOARDS REMINDER:
We want to remind all residents who will be completing
their residency in either 2005 or 2006 that the ABR
is now accepting applications for the July 2005 written
board examinations. Be sure to register before September
30 to avoid late fees ($400 extra if you send in after
Sept 30; absolute filing deadline Oct 31). As you probably
know, residents graduating in 2006 are allowed the
option of taking the written radiobiology and physics
sections of the exam in 2005, with the written clinical
exam to follow in 2006. Residents graduating in 2005
will take all three sections (radiobiology, physics,
and clinical) in 2005.
Because there will probably be twice the usual number
of candidates next year, the ABR has informed ARRO
that the physics and biology sections of the exam will
be scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday, July 20 and
21. Some candidates will take the exam in the morning
and others in the afternoon. The clinical exam will
be on Friday morning, July 22. Thus those taking all
three exams will need to be at the site for Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday while those taking two exams will
need to be there only on Wednesday and Thursday. After
next year, the exam will be on two days, as has been
customary.
We have also been informed by the ABR that the exam
is not graded on a curve, so that those taking all
three sections of the exam should not be disadvantaged
by the fact that others will be taking only two sections.
An absolute percent correct score is utilized to determine
whether a candidate passes the examination, and this
is set once the ABR chooses the questions and assesses
the specific examination for its difficulty.
Finally, we have been informed that there will be
no additional fees for residents who choose to take
the option to take the radiobiology and physics exam
in 2005 and the clinical exam in 2006.
We hope that this information is useful to you. We
attach the PDF of the boards application here.
You may also download the application at http://www.theabr.org/images/OnlineAppDRTR.pdf.
Please visit the ABR's website www.theabr.org for further
information.
2. ARTICLE OF INTEREST:
Drs. Sarah Donaldson and Edward Halperin recently
published a paper entitled "Subspecialty Training and
Certification for Radiation Oncology" in the Journal
of the American College of Radiology. They discuss
the problem of inadequate case material for resident
teaching, using pediatrics as an example. They conclude,
"The problem of the non-uniform distribution of pediatric
case material across residency programs cannot be solved
by removing pediatric radiation oncology from the core
radiation oncology educational curriculum or by offering
fellowship training to those who may select it." To
read more, see the full article in J Am Coll Radiol
2004;1:488-492.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact any of
us on the ARRO Executive Committee if you have comments
or questions. Thank you.
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil
Chair, ARRO Executive Committee
Resident in Radiation Oncology
Massachusetts General Hospital
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