Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA) has been around for two years, including an entire year when diplomates from all four specialties participated. With more than 3.5 million answers submitted, many participants say it has been an effective way of satisfying Part 3 of Maintenance of Certification. More than 6,000 diplomates participated in a recent survey in which OLA received an overall rating of 4.1 out of a possible 5 stars.

Many diplomates agreed that OLA serves as an effective learning tool, especially compared with the previous 10-year exam. In the survey, 72 percent of respondents said OLA positively impacts their clinical work and helps them identify knowledge gaps.

“I look forward to doing questions every week,” one diplomate said. “At least twice (in 2020), by some crazy coincidence, I have seen a case at work within days of having been presented a similar OLA question.”

Other highlights of the survey:

• Many diplomates (53 percent) said they always or usually answer questions at home. Those who most often participate at work numbered 36 percent.
• They overwhelmingly agree that OLA functionality is sufficient. Most (86 percent) say they receive the type of content they expect, and 96 percent believe images load in a sufficient amount of time.
• Three-quarters of respondents said they understand what declining a question means and 92 percent said they know how many declines they are allotted each year.
• Participants appreciate immediate feedback after answering a question. Almost all said they quickly knew whether their answer was correct (98 percent) and that rationales given for each question were useful (94 percent).
• Better than 70 percent said they find their OLA history useful. The history section is where users find, among other details, their answered questions by date, whether they provided a correct or incorrect response, and their confidence ratings.

We appreciate the thousands of diplomates who took the time to complete the survey. We will use the feedback to improve the platform.

This article will appear in the February issue of The Beam. Please be on the lookout for it in your email box soon.