AMERICAN BD OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Initial Certification in Emergency Medicine
Certification demonstrates a physician’s knowledge, skills, and abilities in Emergency Medicine that is needed to practice in many hospitals. In order to be certified, a physician must:
• Successfully complete an EM residency training program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
• Meet the licensure and procedural requirements
• Pass the Qualifying (multiple choice) Examination
• Pass the Oral Certification Examination
Initial Certification in Emergency Medicine Subspecialties
Subspecialty certification demonstrates a physician’s knowledge, skills, and abilities in a focused area of Emergency Medicine. In order to be subspecialty certified, a physician must:
• Be certified by an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member board
• Successfully complete an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited fellowship training program
• Pass the subspecialty initial certification examination
Continuing Certification
ABEM continuing certification promotes continuous learning and periodic assessment throughout the length of certification. The guiding principles include ensuring the highest standards of patient care are established and maintained, and assuring patients, physicians, and other stakeholders that certified physicians are being assessed by reliable and valid measures to continually improve patient care.
Resident Assessment
Residents are assessed on their expected knowledge base and experience using a standardized examination. The scores can be used to judge a resident’s progress toward successful ABEM certification.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of evaluations conducted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2020: Decline due to pandemic
Number of Newly Certified Physicians
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Initial Certification in Emergency Medicine
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2020: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oral Certification Examinations were postponed 2021: The substantial increase was due to providing the OCE to physicians who could not take it in 2020
Number of unique website visitors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
There were over 210,000 unique visitors ABEM.org in 2019, according to Google Analytics. ABEM launched a new and improved website in March 2018.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The ABEM mission is to uphold the highest standards in the specialty of Emergency Medicine. ABEM has transformed the specialty by increasing the quality of care delivered to the public at times of great personal vulnerability and by supporting the increase in access to care by all people. ABEM certifies emergency physicians using rigorous processes and standards, striving to ensure that its initial and continuing certification procedures meet the highest standards of the EM community. Continually improving its certification and continuing certification assessments and activities is of paramount importance to help emergency physicians be better doctors.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
ABEM strives to ensure that our certification activities are valid, reliable, and fair. Several of ABEM’s strategies are aimed at accomplishing this mission, including:
• Having increasing number of Emergency Medicine residents, candidates, and ABEM-certified physicians seeing the value of ABEM certification
• Endeavoring to make the In-training Examination, initial certification, and continuing certification processes meet the highest standards of the certification community
• Endeavoring to ensure that ABEM assessments are relevant to the daily work of a clinically active emergency physician
• Providing stakeholders with meaningful opportunities to engage with ABEM to improve the specialty of Emergency Medicine
• Having all ABEM-certified physicians participate in continuing certification activities
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
ABEM has sufficient capabilities for meeting its mission. ABEM is comprised of Board of Directors made up of volunteer emergency physicians and a professional staff of 44. The ABEM Board of Directors are board-certified, clinically active, emergency physicians actively involved in the development and administration of ABEM examinations, continuing certification activities, and related policies. They serve as examination editors, oversee the writers of its various assessments, and serve as chief examiners for its oral certification examination.
Over 500 clinically active physicians volunteer their services as oral examiners, test question writers, and representatives on subspecialty test writing committees. Additional groups of emergency physicians serve to review each test question and oral examination case for each of its examinations to review them for relevance and to set exam standards.
A survey is administered with each examination that allows physicians to respond to each multiple choice exam question and each oral exam case regarding its relevance to clinical practice.
ABEM also has key relationships with all major Emergency Medicine organizations (primarily membership organizations). Leadership from the ABEM Board meets with the leadership of each of these organizations at least twice each year to discuss issues of mutual interest and provide updates about current ABEM activities. ABEM convenes summits to bring representatives of these national groups together to discuss topical issues and find ways to advance the specialty of Emergency Medicine. ABEM is a member of interorganizational coalitions and task forces that work on issues of common interest and to solve specific specialty-related problems.
ABEM also draws on its relationships with other American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Boards, both at the leadership and staff levels, to share ideas, solve problems, and share successes.
The ABEM Certification Services team is available to respond to physician questions and concerns via phone and email pertaining to examination applications, credentialing, continuing certification activities, and Emergency Medicine residency programs. The Systems and Technology team facilitates online access to expedite physician tasks, such as applying for exams and participating in continuing certification activities, in an easy and intuitive manner. The Evaluation and Research team assists in the development and administration of examinations that are fair, reliable, and valid.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Accomplished/Continuing
• Administered the In-training Examination to 8,862 residents (physicians training in the specialty of Emergency Medicine) in the U.S., Canada, and Singapore in 2021
• Converted the Oral Certification to a virtual platform
• Developed new case type for virtual Oral Exam
• Developed videos to assist with VOE staff training, candidate introduction, and new case type
• Administered the Oral Certification Examination to 4,763 physicians in 2021, eliminating the backlog that occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Administered the ConCert Exam to 3,283 physicians in 2021
• Launched six MyEMCert modules, an alternative continuing certification assessment
Developed learning tools for MyEMCert, including videos, demo module, FAQs, and synopses
• Initiated a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion planning process
• Rewrote the ABEM bylaws and developed charters for each standing committee
• Approved a Strategic Plan
• Initiated planning for URiM Student Internship Program
• Received accreditation from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies
• Developed and implemented expanded both for exhibit halls to provide information about certification and continuing certification, especially MyEMCert
• Began planning a value of certification communications pilot
• Conducted end-to-end review and update of recruiting and selection process with a focus on diversity
• Hired inaugural Director of Research
• Provided post-examination surveys to the takers of all assessments to receive feedback about exam value and relevance
Next steps
• Continue to develop MyEMCert modules
• Continue to develop multiple choice questions for Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography focused practice designation exam for the first administration in 2022
• In collaboration with several other ABMS member boards, apply for subspecialty certification in Health Care Administration, Leadership, and Management, with the goal of convening an item writing panel in 2023
• Develop and launch new continuing certification programs for EMS and Medical Toxicology
• Implement URiM Student Internship Program
• Conduct organizational assessment and volunteer/staff DEI training by consultant firm
• Implement annual policy review
• Launch a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion organizational assessment
• Launch value of certification communications pilot
• Expand research efforts to verify the validity of assessments and DEI-related issues
• Continue to conduct research about the validity and relevance of ABEM assessments
• Continue to conduct research about the value of certification
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
AMERICAN BD OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
Board of directorsas of 11/02/2023
Dr. Ramon Johnson
Wallace A. Carter
Ramon W. Johnson
Samuel M. Keim
James D. Thomas
Diane L. Gorgas
Yvette Calderone
John L. Kendall
Felix K. Ankel
Hala Durrah
Suzanne R. White
Susan E. Farrell
Kim M. Feldhaus
Theodore J. Gaeta
Ernest E. Wang
Lynne Holden
Barry J. Knapp
John P. Marshall
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/17/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.