Attributes of Candidates Passing the ABS Certifying Examination on the First Attempt — Program Directors׳ Perspective

Background The American Board of Surgery Certifying Examination (CE) is a pivotal event in a surgeon’s career development, as it is the last challenge before achieving Board certification. First-time pass rate on the CE is one of the key metrics of surgery residency programs. The overall pass rate on the CE has declined significantly in recent years. Objectives The goal of this study was the identification of attributes of general surgery residents that are associated with passing the CE at the first attempt. Methods The modified Delphi process was used to survey general surgery program directors. The study was conducted in 2 rounds in the interest of time available for surgical education research fellowship project. Results All 259 program directors were contacted in each round of surveys. In all, 49 (19%) responded to the first round and 54 (21%) responded to the second round of survey. Conclusions The characteristics of a successful resident on CE include confidence, self-motivation, sound knowledge base, strong performance on the Board’s training examination (American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination), and mock orals, and good communication skills. Postgraduate years 4 and 5 are the most likely resident levels at which failure could be predicted.