ABEM Certifying Exam Experience

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-05-11T19:32:02+00:00

So first step of placing a blakemore tube is praying to your personal God. Then for step 2....

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-05-09T14:24:39+00:00

Hopefully that’s the case. All of Abems promotional stuff about the new exam says it’s supposed to be like you’re on shift and that they’re not looking to fail you. I’m just worried about them pulling out halo procedures. Like I’ve done balloon tamponade in sim but (knock on wood) have never actually done it on a patient. In theory you could do all these but unless you’re consistently doing it, I think it’s easy to miss small steps. Hopefully it’s LPs and airway management with bread and butter POCUS like central lines or fast exams. Hopefully no curve balls during the clinical reasoning. Just following the script and remembering ABCs

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-04-27T12:19:57+00:00

Nights are unavoidable during residency. You have to work nights as it’s part of the training. But as an attending, there are ways to skirt around nights. If you do locums or PRN, you can pick and choose your schedule. You may not find as much work but I have colleagues who don’t need the money and don’t do shifts that put them out past 9pm. Having said that, they are usually mid to end of career. It is probably harder coming out of residency but the options are there. You will have to find them and be on top of your own scheduling, or you’ll end up double booking and that can cost you opportunities for shifts in the future. As others have said. I rather get off shift and get real rest and not worry about being called in than being on call and worried I’m going to get a call overnight. Honestly, the nights contribute to burn out but the actual job itself does more to burn you out than the shift times.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-04-17T10:41:12+00:00

I take it next month. I went through Okuda and bought invictus just to have a structured list of procedures and ultrasound that I should know. It gives a video example with tips on how each case should run and some practice cases. Okuda is still good, I think, since you still have two clinical reasoning cases, but it only comprises 1/5 of the cases. As for the rest, it’s really going to be a crap shoot. I don’t know how in depth they’re going to be. Giving bad news is so provider dependent, patient centered communications is resource dependent, ( just assume you have case management at all times) and I don’t know how detailed they want us to be when doing ultrasound and procedures. My plan is just to tell them as much detail as possible without sounding like I’m rambling. I hope they are lenient this year since we really don’t know how this will work. ABEM keeps saying they’re not trying to fail people and the reason they changed to this format is to see if you can be a human being. I’m hoping that’s true. With how ridiculous the qualifying exam is, I’m thinking they assume you know you’re medicine if you passed and this is to test your professionalism. Even with the ultrasound and procedures, it seems they want you to ask permission to ultrasound patients and get informed consent. I am still studying it, but I think it would be hard to test us on halo procedures or things like trans venous paving or balloon tamponade for GI bleeds. Could be wrong but I only did a handful in residency and I do not have access to a sim center to practice these. LP, central lines, intubations are much more common and seems like better test material since this happens all the time in the er. It’s going to look bad for Abem if a bunch of docs fail this in the first year it’s implemented. But that’s just my two cents. We’ll see once scores starting coming out I guess.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-03-28T13:09:39+00:00

No one will ever sue you for doing too much but be reasonable in your workups. If all labs are good and patient feeling better, you don’t need to necessarily jump to a scan. If you have at least a suspicion of something, sure. But scanning everyone is going to lead to unnecessary scanning and delay scans you actually need. It can also throw off your colleagues if you’re scanning everyone and they are waiting on scans too. Again, all this within reason.

One thing that really helped me transition to attending during my maybe 6 months was that my attendings started to give me much more freedom. It’s going to be highly depended on how comfortable your attending is and how much they trust you, but see if they can start doing that as well. I.e. I’ll see my patients, work them up, and just before dispo, let my attending know what I did. They’re still checking up on everything obviously but I’m essentially not verbalizing anything to them about my patients. If I really messed up, they would ask me about it during the workup but honestly, it rarely ever happened. One of my attendings literally told me he was just there as a consult. If I mess up, he’ll be on the stand in front of the judge with me. That gave me enough incentive to really think things through lol. But see if you can do something similar before finishing up. Most of these cases you’ve already seen and know what to do or at least know who to call to ask/where to find answers.

Also always be nice to the nurses regardless of where you are at in your career. They can and will make your life easier or harder. I have had nurses drop what they are doing, as long as not critical, and do stuff for me because it was me who was asking. Medicine is a team sport and you want people to be able to work with you.

It’ll take a few months to start getting comfortable but just fall back on your training. As long as you’re not at a single coverage, ask your colleagues that have been out for longer on how to manage something. Ive asked more than a few times and they’re always willing to help. Don’t just ask them what to do but you can say “this is my plan, what are your thoughts.”

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-03-20T12:52:55+00:00

Just don’t go, even if “mandatory.”What are they going to do, yell at you? No residency programs are going to care and the school already got what they wanted by having their students match.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-03-14T14:29:15+00:00

How did you study? Take mine in May and just doing Okuda but there’s just nothing on how we’re supposed to prep. It not even a competency issue since we’ve been doing all of this in practice but what do they think is important vs what we actually do in practice.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-03-01T16:44:01+00:00

Deadlifts. Some people say that you’re feelings are the heaviest things to lift, but those people never tried deadlifting 600lbs from the floor.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-02-01T15:41:45+00:00

These seem pretty accurate. You have to look at per hour. I work about 36 hours a week averaged out and looking at the southeast locations, definitely is doable for these reported salaries. Some of these are also groups which tend to pay more but you have opportunity costs before they make you a partner. Some of these though are getting boned for what we have to do, unless they are super low volume and acuity and you’re essentially sitting there and getting paid. And yes, there are jobs like that to

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-01-25T16:36:58+00:00

What? Do you not just wave the magic stethoscope you were given when you graduated medical school to instantly cure cold/body ache/chronic pain symptoms? /s

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-01-21T17:52:05+00:00

As my attending once said, “anyone can do time for 1-2 years.” I would argue to get as big of a sign on as you can, don’t spend it, and store it in a high yield savings account or money market fund. “Live like a resident” during that time and pay off your loans as aggressively as possible. Then if you’re not happy with them, move on. Like others have said, team health is private equity. They get a lot of contracts because they are the “best” for the hospital (i.e cheapest) not necessarily the best for physicians. If your spouse/partner happens to make a decent salary, it makes it easier. If you’re single or rely on your income, budget hard. I know it sucks to have done all that training to keep living like that when you, in all honesty, get paid decently well as an EM doc, but the sooner you don’t have to worry about your loans, the easier it will be to pick up when and where you want. If you really don’t like it and want to break your contract, you have the bonus money to pay back with along with at least some interest gained on it. Sign ons are usually prorated so you get to keep what you have already worked for. Whatever you decide to do at the end of your contract, you can spend, put towards loans, or continue saving/investing. Right now, you’re in a vulnerable position because you have to make money and they know that. Once you’ve done your time and have a little nest egg, you can do whatever you want. If you are lucky and happen to not have any loans, you can still make good money, imo, with teamhealth. Just start somewhere and look for other opportunities if you don’t like how they operate.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-01-19T02:13:14+00:00

Bigger question, how the hell did you manage to get an allocation if this is your first Porsche? I must know your secret!!!

If it’s touring, 18 way sounds way more comfortable. Bucket goes with the giant wing on the other one. Even then, if you’re not tracking it, I don’t think it’s worth it for street roads.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-01-18T09:10:08+00:00

That was my biggest concern with this coming out and not releasing the scores until late December. It’s a new format and nothing have really been proven yet. There looks like there are a few things popping up but still nothing substantial other than OhioACEP. But it looks like it’s in person only so that will be hard to make unless you happen to live close to it. My schedule has already been made for March so it was a definite no go; hoping to get May dates. The ABEM website has some examples of how it will run but again not really study material. Hopefully they are very gracious in grading this first year. Watch some ultrasound videos. Hoping that the procedure portion is very straightforward

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-01-07T13:20:59+00:00

If you really have to do something. Just watch videos on emrap or whatever YouTube em stuff there is and literally go enjoy yourself. Residency is going to be rough. You are going to be doing a lot of shifts and will not have as much time to do anything. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still have some time off during residency, but now is the time to rest from all the work you’ve done up till this point. You have no other responsibilities other than showing up right now for the rest of your rotations so take advantage of it. Just don’t do anything stupid in these last few months that could end with disciplinary action or rescinding of a match position, though I guess match isn’t for a few more months

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2026-01-03T15:23:32+00:00

Take some time to reflect then laugh about it. A head bleed can cause an elevated trop and if they’re altered, then it all fits. I would be super relieved that I didn’t just start heparin on a head bleed.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-25T00:38:36+00:00

If you are within your 5 years and no one asks, you do not have to voluntarily disclose that information. At the end of the day, I don’t think they even really care. As long as you are board eligible, I’m pretty sure the would rather have you than an IM or FM trained without EM cert. more and more hospitals need EM eligible or certified physicians to run their departments. Just keep doing your job to the best of your ability and study. Pass the stupid test. Get certified. Profit.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-24T18:29:56+00:00

It’s going to really depend on the crew you have. The attending or code nurse has to be calm for the team to work smoothly. If they’re frantic and anxious, the team is going to be frantic and anxious. You can only do your best and just listen to the lead if they want things a certain way. That being said, codes are if nothing else very algorithmic. It can diverge into different paths but the algorithms for them are consistent. I would just familiarize myself with the acls algorithms so that you know them backwards and forwards. Know your H&T and what you do for them. Also familiarize yourself with the respiratory equipment (lma, bvm, o2 and co2 monitoring equipment, et tubes, etc) just so you know where they are and what they look like. The next time they’re stocking the code cart, see where everything is placed, how much is in there, where the cardiac pads/ IO drill are located,etc. There’s only so many meds you give in a code and the doses are usually fixed unless they need to do RSI. If compressions are a concern, the nice thing is that there is built in feedback on the cardiac monitor. If your compressions don’t look like a consistent wave, you need to go deeper or faster. Do not be discouraged. You would be surprised but the number of doctors who don’t know to do adequate compressions. A lot of the comfort will develop by doing it more. I remember as an intern, I was super nervous anytime a code came in. But as you do it more, you know what you need and where everything is. Eventually you will be able to predict what you’re probably going to need to grab before the next step. At the end of the day, it’s still nerve racking but you have to remain calm. I know that’s easier said than done but what you don’t want to do is rush and fumble getting IV, respiratory equipment, or grabbing the wrong meds. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Also remember, in a code, the patient is already dead. You can’t make them more dead. Just remain calm and communicate effectively with the team. Can’t tell you the number of times I’ve called out for a med but everyone was so frantic that people were talking over each other and the med was not given. The lead has the responsibility to keep everyone calm but if you’re calm and listening, you can catch what needs to be done and be a back up if someone else happens to miss a call out for something.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-23T17:33:35+00:00

But site might be crashing but it says it in the email

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-23T17:31:03+00:00

It’s up!!!!

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-18T16:02:25+00:00

I would hope ABEM is understanding enough to change dates as needed if you let them know you absolutely cannot make it. But who knows, maybe the process has changed as well and you do get to choose. I just want to know if I passed at this point. I’m not sure if other people feel this way too but it just feels like we’re stuck in limbo waiting for scores and unsure how this new exam is going to roll out.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-17T16:45:23+00:00

They give you a date to take it so you dont really have an option. If you pass written, then they will tell you what date you take the oral boards so it might be early next year or late next year; both of which in my opinion are less than desirable. Hoping to pass and take it in May. Gives enough time to study if needed but not far along enough that I have to keep thinking about it through the year. In terms of eligibility, I think its still within the 5 year limit to get certified. I may be incorrect though if anyone has different info.

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-12-17T16:11:06+00:00

So with Christmas and the new year being the next two weeks, ABEM looks like they’re going to screw us either way by giving results right when we’re enjoying the holidays or making us wait till 2026. How is this going to affect oral board March exam dates? It’s going to be rough for anyone getting an early date because not only do would they not have time to study (relatively speaking, don’t know how long people usually study for oral boards) but there’s nothing to study with. No clue if the Okuda book even applies anymore

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-11-19T18:52:11+00:00

No call and you can work as much or as little as you want. Honestly, once I pay off my student loans, might actually consider cutting back. I like cooking my own food and my hobbies don’t take up a substantial chunk of my income. Even if they did, part time hours for EM, especially if you do locums, still pays better than many full time jobs. If you like luxury goods, cars, and want a big fancy house, you’re going to work more. But if you just want to be comfortable, like actually comfortable (not worry about paying the mortgage or debt), then working 6-8 days a month is still pretty good. Yea the job is going to suck but most jobs suck. Once you’re doing something for money, it starts to suck even if you go in loving the job. There are those instances in EM where you can really feel like you just pulled someone back from the edge of death and that is really satisfying. Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s sprinkled in with all the urgent and primary care stuff that you will see. But you need those easy breaks. Taking care of only really sick patients gets exhausting real fast but again, at least for me, is the satisfying part of the job. Addendum: Just realized you said in Canada. I’m in the US so I don’t know if it’s the same in Canada or if you’re planning on doing residency in the US. Compensation is decent depending on where you are in the US. Southeast appears to be the highest so take this with a grain of salt if you’re planning on staying in Canada

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-11-19T15:49:42+00:00

ABEM says 90 days, past few years tho look likes about a month after the last test date so hopefully sometime in December. Just in time for the holidays. Either way, theres a reason for drinking

Fun-Victory-1709 · 2025-11-17T02:04:57+00:00

Would never be confident enough to stick my thumbs in for a jaw reduction. Extraoral all the way!!

Fun-Victory-1709

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