To be a doctor in today’s healthcare system means you have a huge student loan hanging off your back and the societal pressure to practice efficiently and perfectly. The current market has no room for poor management practices as it did a couple of years back. However, the good news is that the market will always have room for a doctor willing to grow and learn through continuous assessments such as MOCA-Peds.
Time Management Strategy
An alternative to the proctored continuous assessment tests is MOCA pediatrics (Maintenance of Certification Assessment for Pediatrics (MOCA-Peds) is a web-based assessment program for pediatrics. MOCA-Peds emphasizes continuous learning, allowing pediatricians to determine when and where they take questions.). Since the test will enable you to take it at your convenience, you have the freedom to plan yourself around it without compromising your average work-life balance.
Making and maintaining a sound scheduling system also helps you plan and prioritize your time between patient care and other duties. Dedicate your time to creating a system that improves your productivity and efficiency. Instead of a manual system, consider a computerized one for easier access.
Maintaining Professional Standards
MOCA pediatrics significantly positively impact self-training and learning. Medical experts who participate in ongoing certification have different attitudes about the program and how it provides value to participants. Professionalism standards and participation in periodic assessments focus on ensuring that doctors fulfill external practice threshold values on a continuous basis.
Self-assessment and performance improvement activities address understanding and practice gaps as healthcare education and skills change over time. Continuous certification ensures that doctors always meet the set professional standards.
The approach to examinations by MOCA-Peds prioritizes learning and understanding over cramming through repetitive tests to help build your knowledge and confidence. This, in turn, encourages learning which improves how a doctor would improve themselves in a professional capacity.
Access to Educational Resources
The MOCA-Peds assessment has a free MOCA-PBR study guide and test companion. This study guide helps to equip you with the necessary resources you need to pass their examinations. The study guide is newly structured every year and only contains information from the 45 subjects that you need to know. Since the topics to be stated are structured every year, they are released to you ahead of time in November. The guide is available 24/7 and was efficiently created to help you gain access to it without much of a hassle.
The MOCA-Peds subjects you to about 80 questions annually, translating to 20 questions every quarter. This means you can do all questions at once or take one question per day. The test, however, is timed for 5 minutes per question. Giving doctors access to these high-quality medical and educational resources coupled with periodic assessments helps them maintain their current clinical knowledge.
Improves Learning Skills
During the launch of the 2017 pilot program to test pediatricians’ perspectives towards the MOCA-Peds assessment technique, most of the registered participants preferred it to the proctored examinations. Those who participated in the MOCA-Peds 2017 pilot showed a wide range of self-acquired knowledge and practice changes.
Almost all participants said they acquired, renewed, or improved their medical knowledge, and many said they made one or more practice modifications due to participation in the MOCA-Pediatrics 2017 pilot. Many argued that the proctored examinations felt demeaning and did not encourage learning.
However, participation in the lifelong assessments helped them improve their learning skills and was preferred as the better examination method. As a result, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) and other member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) have begun introducing significant reforms to the certification process.
Develop a Patient-Centered Approach
Working as a doctor means creating more time for your patients. The 2017 pilot study showed that MOCA-Peds influenced an opportunity to create more time and attention for patients. The assessment requires you to familiarize yourself with your patients through improved patient training, counseling, and history gathering. Creating more time for your patients also helps better your skills as a doctor by getting exposure and first-hand experiences.
Conclusion
The development of MOCA-Peds as an alternative to the MOC proctored tests is one step in improving the lives of physicians. It helps make the recertification process easier while arming you with the necessary values such as professionalism, time management, and establishing patient-centered approaches.
