Advanced Processes for Clinical Pharmacology Evaluation in Board Exams

Abstract

As a medical educator for over 30 years, and a member of the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) for 20 of this time, I am concerned about the burden placed on those taking boards. In the USA, an increase in Biologic License Applications (BLAs) plus New Molecular Entities (NMEs) over these past two decades is extensive. Considering that there was not an equivalent number of agents withdrawn from the market leaves a large net amount of new medicines to be learned in additional to what we are already teaching.

In my opinion, this is an overload and one of the causes contributing to increased burnout among young physicians-to-be. As recently concluded, “Advances in medicine and technology mean that medical students are expected to learn significantly more information than their predecessors in the same amount of time¹.” Other contributory factors cited in this article include participation in extracurricular, research and leadership activities, all designed to improve chances for admission into targeted residencies.