ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Thomas R. O’Neill, PhD; Keith Stelter, MD, MMM; Warren Newton, MD, MPH
Corresponding Author: Thomas R. O’Neill, PhD; The American Board of Family Medicine
Email: toneill@theabfm.org
DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2024.240282R1
Keywords: Certification, Clinical Skills, Evaluation Studies, Family Medicine, Licenses, Measures, Patient Harm, Program Evaluation, Psychometrics, Research, Statistical Models, Statistics, Surveys and Questionnaires
Dates: Submitted: 07-30-2024; Revised: 09-09-2024; Accepted: 09-16-2024
Status: In production for ahead of print.
PURPOSE: The American Board of Family Medicine approved the use of a new blueprint for the Family Medicine Certification Examination, the In-Training Examination, Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment, and the Continuous Knowledge Self-Assessment. It will go into effect in January 2025. The blueprint defines the content domains for the questions on the exam and the percentage of questions in each domain. This article describes the process used to establish the percentage of questions in each domain.
METHODS: A random sample of 2000 clinically active ABFM Diplomates were surveyed about the frequency and risk of patient harm associated with 202 clinical activities. The results were translated into recommended percentages of questions for each content domain.
RESULTS: The survey response rate was 48% and the demographic data for the responders was representative of ABFM-certified, clinically active Diplomates.
CONCLUSIONS: This manuscript demonstrates how the examination content is directly connected to the clinical activities that comprise the scope of family practice in a way that considers both how often the activities are performed and their risk of patient harm if the activity is not performed correctly.