Multifaceted remediation program: experience of a residency program to rescue residents who failed the American Board of Anesthesiology basic examination

Abstract

Problem

Passing the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) basic examination is required to progress through anesthesiology training in USA. Failing the test may be related to medical knowledge gaps, presence of negative psychosocial factors, and/or individual approaches to learning. This article describes the experience of development and implementation of a multifaceted remediation program (MRP) in residents who failed the ABA basic test.

Intervention

This is a retrospective analysis of four cases of residents who failed the ABA basic test between 2016 and 2017. The MRP is described. Pedagogical diagnosis, objectives, teaching strategies and assessment, and their constructive alignment are presented. Information regarding test performance is also presented.

Context

This study involves accredited anesthesiology residency program in USA. Outcomes: Four subjects (11% of program residents) failed the ABA basic test. Superficial approach to learning was observed in 100% of cases. The total possible number of participants was 4. The actual number of participants was 4, and the response rate was 100%. Four residents fell under 10th percentile on the first attempt, and 100% passed the test on the second attempt. There was 38% improvement in the number of failed keywords between the two attempts.

Lessons learned

Implementation of the MRP developed at our institution is successful to remediate anesthesiology residents who fail the ABA basic examination. We learned that the deep analysis of learning approaches, psychosocial factors, and medical knowledge gaps can be used to develop a remediation program based on the constructive alignment between objectives, curriculum, and assessment.

Keywords:

• remediation
• medical education
• anesthesiology residency
• learning
• evaluation

Acknowledgments

This study has not been previously published and is not under consideration in the same or substantially similar form in any other peer-reviewed media. No previous presentations, print, and/or online publications derived from this study have been performed. This study was supported by the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.