Editors



Current Editors: Jane Onyemachi and Madelyn Schmidt

(Please email editors if there is blog-worthy news that you would like to see shared)

Past Editors: Fareen Momin, Andrea Francis, Renat Ahatov, Michael Phan, Elise Weisert, Michael Ryan, Keith Wagner, Tim Allen, Kristyna Gleghorn, Dung Mac, Alex Acosta, William Tausend, Sheila Jalalat, Rebecca Philips, Chelsea Altinger, Lindsey Hunter, Alison Wiesenthal, Leslie Scroggins, Mara Dacso, Ashley Group, Fadi Constantine, Emily Fridlington, Joslyn Witherspoon, Tasneem Poonawalla.

Monday, December 09, 2013

How did the UTMB dermatology residents score in the top 70th percentile on dermatology boards this year?

The UTMB dermatology residents scored in the top 70th percentile on the dermatology boards this year. We recently asked the recent graduates what they did to score so well and if they could identify anything about the UTMB dermatology residency that helped them achieve this academic excellence.

“I think it is hard to pinpoint exactly what prepared us for this test...we have so much clinical exposure in our clinics at UTMB that I think that is #1. I think our Friday academic day was important (Kodachromes in particular). My suggestion regarding journal club would be to read through “Journal Watch”, they publish the Top 10 "stories" of the year and also list the 10 most important/impactful articles). It would be great to definitely read and analyze those articles as a group.  The other residents and read those together this year and I think it helped. DermPath unknowns (I think we stress DermPath quite a bit in our program which came in very handy on the boards). The two board review courses that I attended really helped as well (Galderma Review in Dallas and Barron's DermPath review in Cincinnatti, OH).”

“I don't think there is one thing in particular that helped us to score well on the boards, however I do think that the academic curriculum at UTMB is very strong, and this has been demonstrated over the years with the program's very low fail-rate on the boards over the years. I have always thought that giving lectures in your third year is one of the best ways to solidify your knowledge (after learning the material for the 3rd time - "see one, do one, teach one" method). I also think our faculty members were very helpful in gearing their lectures and teaching sessions toward high yield and board-relevant material. A lot of the studying comes down to your own methods and integrating all of the materials you have. I think a combination of Galderma, referencing (and studying) Bolognia, looking at as many clinical photos as possible (including the AAD kodochrome database on the website), and doing tons and tons of practice questions worked best for me. Also, I attended several review courses including the Galderma course in April and the Dermpath100 course in Ohio. It was helpful to get a sense of the types of questions and topics that were high yield (as well as those topics that I was weaker in). All in all, I don't think there is a "magic bullet" for this test. It really comes down to how prepared you are to choose the "best" answer on the exam, as well as stamina to do hundreds of questions in one day. I don't think anyone felt super confident after this exam, which shows you that it really is variable.”

“I agree with my fellow residents, however, I didn't attend any of the extra review courses, which made me nervous I was missing out, but I think we are prepared well enough. I personally didn't want to spend the money on the reviews and travel and it was difficult to be away from my family.  But, yes, Galderma binder, lots of review questions, clinical reading and presentations throughout residency. Reviewing lots of slides (UTMB has large study sets).”


Thank you for your very useful information!