ABMS News Release (07/27/22)

A whitepaper from the American Board of Medical Specialties and partners evaluated more than 600 studies to characterize evidence underlying the need for continuous certification. The report, "Conceptual Foundations for Designing Continuing Certification Assessments for Physicians," highlights four key themes. These themes include keeping cognitive skills updated through certification to ensure clinicians' evidence-based care is of highest quality. The authors also determined that self-assessment alone is insufficient, and physicians require more structured and formalized processes for identifying knowledge gaps in order to plan continuous medical education and other activities. A third theme supports testing as a tool for improving learning and knowledge retention, especially when staggered over time. The fourth theme points out that testing motivates physicians to learn and retain more knowledge and update competency. The whitepaper indicates that the longitudinal assessment model has facilitated greater retention over time versus rote memorization.

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