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Factors Suggesting General Surgery Board Passage: An 11 Year Review
Paul H Kispert, *Ryland S. Stucke, Kari Rosenkranz
Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH

Objective:
ACGME requirements state that General Surgery Residency programs must achieve minimum first time pass rates on the ABS QE (written) and CE (oral) examinations of 65% over 5 year periods. We sought to identify factors contributing to board passage rates on the QE and CE.
Design:
Retrospective observational study of QE and CE results from 2004-2015
Setting:
General Surgery Residency at an academic medical center
Residents:
General surgery residents sitting for the board examinations.
Intervention:
None
Main outcome Measure:
First time pass rate on QE and CE

Variables	Number	First Time Pass CE and QE
Overall	30/40	75%
Career Choice
Plastic Surgery	1/6	17%
CT/Vascular/Thoracic	7/9	78%
General Surgery	22/25	88%
Resident Characteristics
Categorical	26/30	87%
Preliminary/Transfer	4/10	40%
ABSITE (5th year scores)
% Correct ≤70%	10/15	67%
>70%	20/25	80%
National Percentile ≤30%	8/13	62%
>30%	22/27	81%

Conclusions: Overall first time board passage rate over 11 years was 75%. Ultimate passage rate was 97% with repeated attempts. Residents pursuing a career in plastic surgery were less likely to pass the general surgery boards on the first attempt. Residents hired through the NRMP match had superior board passage rates compared to those hired after a preliminary year or who transferred from other programs. ABSITE scores ≤ 30^th percentile nationally in the PGY-5 year had first time QE and CE failure rates that were double those of residents scoring >30^th percentile (38% vs 19% failure). We postulate that careful recruitment to maximize resident retention and minimize replacement, selection of residents with General Surgery interests, and good ABSITE performance will help maximize first time QE and CE board passage rates.

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