New Oral Examiner Event Offers Enhanced Mentorship and Training
By Michael Yunes, MD, ABR Associate Executive Director of Radiation Oncology
2025;18(1):9
The ABR Radiation Oncology Oral Certifying Exam (CE) is often considered the most stressful and difficult experience in the long and arduous journey to independent practice. The purpose of the CE is to assess a candidate’s clinical skills and judgment and to ensure that they are competent to practice independently for the benefit of patients. The ABR is passionate about providing a robust process that represents a credible assessment of knowledge and understanding of radiation oncology and mitigates the stress of the experience for the candidate. To that end, we will be piloting a model of examiner mentorship and training this spring.
During a CE, examiners ask candidates questions while progressing through various aspects of multiple cases, which may include patient history and physical exam, pathologic diagnosis, multidisciplinary discussion, and treatment decisions. Ultimately, the questions focus on radiation treatment and all associated activities.
The case selection is carefully curated and standardized between each exam. It includes a wide range of questions for each category, allowing examinees to fully demonstrate their knowledge as well as providing an opportunity for them to potentially recover if their performance on one case is suboptimal. Balancing each category, case, and exam involves a multilevel process that begins well over a year before the exam is delivered and continues until the results are submitted.
In clinical practice, radiation oncologists navigate different personalities, perspectives, demographics, languages, and disabilities among their patients and colleagues. The CE strives to remove as much variability as possible in the exam encounter, so examiners are assessing only clinical skills and decision making. Ongoing improvements in case development and focused examiner training can enhance the experience for the examinee and provide a superior assessment tool for the examiner.
The proposed enhancement of the ABR mentorship and training program, which will take place as an in-person event in Dallas, is open to all radiation oncology examiners. Participation is mandatory for inexperienced examiners and strongly encouraged for available experienced examiners.
Historically, examiners were trained remotely and then received additional in-person training before administering several supervised exams. Continuous feedback from category chairs, Trustees, and the associate executive director during oral exam administrations ensured impartial, unbiased, and equitable examinations for each candidate. The mentorship and training event takes this approach further by offering the following components:
- Introduction of the exam process, ABR staff, and volunteers
- Formal instruction on exam case development
- Training with exam delivery software
- Exam experience optimization, ensuring that all examinees are treated equitably without bias
- Discussion and management of more than 20 unique examinee/examiner scenarios
- Review of an exam reenactment video
- Practice exams with detailed examiner feedback
- Category reviews
Multiple ABR representatives, including exam delivery staff, psychometricians, Trustees, and several directors, will be available to assist and enhance the mentorship and training opportunity.
The ABR remains committed not only to limiting variability of the oral exam assessment model, but also to enhancing the experience for candidates.