With more than 1,500 physicians taking the American Board of Radiology’s virtual exams this year, the group is making a key change starting next month.
The Tucson, Arizona-based doc-certification nonprofit announced Monday that test takers will need to have side-view cameras on their computers beginning on April 15. ABR said the change became necessary after problems with recording exams while using old testing technology from higher education.
“It became clear that these tools, while very reasonable for colleges and universities, create stress in a high-stakes environment (because of, for example, standard methods for tracking eye movement),” the ABR said in an update posted March 15.
Candidates have one month to make the switchover away from standard, front-facing web cams. To help defray the cost, ABR is crediting candidates $40 toward future fees, which it will apply in early 2022.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.