The effects of an educational intervention for "at-risk" residents to improve their scores on the In-training Exam

The American Board of Family Practice (ABFP) In-training Exam (ITE) is one of the tools used to evaluate both a resident's progress through residency and the program itself. Investigators have examined the ITE's validity and reliability and predictors of resident performance, but no published studies have reported the effects of initiatives to improve residents' performance on the ITE. This study examines the impact of an educational intervention on low-scoring residents' ITE composite scores. Second-year residents at a university-based program were divided into two groups. The intervention group, who took the educational intervention, all had PGY-1 scores < 400 on their composite score. The control group was comprised of residents scoring > 400 on their composite score as PGY-1s. The educational intervention involved intensive group and independent study. In the first year of the study, there was an increase in the average composite score of 75 points in the intervention group compared to the control group. In the second year, there was an increase of 72.5 points, but these differences were not significant. These composite score changes are not significant, and although this educational intervention may have improved confidence among low-scoring residents, it did not clearly improve their scores on the ITE.