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Vinita Sodhi, MD and Robert DeSimone, MD, Provide Guidance on Becoming Board-Certified in Anesthesiology

The Board of Certification in Anesthesiology (BCA) offers credentialed physicians board certification in the specialty. The BCA is a Member Board of the American Board of Physician Specialties® (ABPS), which is recognized in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook and by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a top choice for physician certification.

If you’re a qualified and experienced anesthesiologist, considering board certification, BCA Diplomates Vinita Sodhi, MD, and Robert DeSimone, MD, can tell you about the certification process and the benefits of becoming certified through the ABPS—a multispecialty board that works diligently on their behalf to ensure they have a strong voice in their community.

Vinita Sodhi, MD

Vinita Sodhi, MDI practice anesthesiology at Atlanticare Regional Medical Center in Pomona, NJ. Anesthesiology is a dynamic specialty with an excellent combination of technical hands-on skills and intellectual problem-solving in real time. I love having the ability to provide anesthetic care to each patient based on their co-morbidities and surgical procedure.

To be eligible for BCA certification, applicants must satisfy the general requirements of the ABPS as well as the BCA’s requirements, which include completing a PGY-1 program or accredited internship and an ACGME- or AOA-accredited residency in anesthesiology. To earn certification, candidates must pass both a written and an oral exam.

Preparation for the exams starts during training and through involvement in complex cases. Additional resources I used to prepare include: the ACE book questions, Open Anesthesia, and Faust Anesthesia Handbook.

Becoming BCA certified has several benefits. It puts you in a distinguished group of specialists who have demonstrated exceptional knowledge and skills. BCA certification also enhances your technique and patient care methods, giving you confidence in your clinical decision-making and treatment planning. As a result, patients feel more confident.

Though the certification process is challenging, it is worthwhile and rewarding. Stay focused and keep solving as many practice questions from different sources. For oral exam preparation, do as many mock orals as you can, and ask your friends or colleagues to be your mock examiner.

Robert DeSimone, MD

Robert DeSimone, MDI’m currently practicing with a small anesthesia group that covers surgical centers in Essex, Morris, and Union counties in New Jersey.

One important way to prepare for the BCA written certification exam is to read one of the major anesthesia textbooks over your first year of anesthesia training. Also, look over the salient points of the cases you are assigned to every day and discuss them with your attending physicians.

Once you pass the written portion, prepare for the oral exam by rereading one of the major anesthesia textbooks and having a mentor administer practice questions. Oral exam review courses are another option.

In the past, being board certified in a specialty was not imperative, but in today’s medical environment, certification is very imperative. For instance, most hospitals require physician specialists to earn board certification in a certain period of time to maintain hospital privileges. When you consider that most insurers will not cover medical services unless a physician is board certified or board eligible, you can understand why most ambulatory surgical centers advertise that their physicians are certified.

If I could give advice to an anesthesiologist interested in BCA certification, I would say that becoming a certified physician is a rigorous endeavor, certainly, but it is now essentially required in order to practice anesthesia in today’s evolving industry.

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Medical organizations throughout North America understand that our rigorous certification standards prove that ABPS Diplomates are capable of delivering the best patient care possible.

With declining access for maternity care amid rising maternal mortality, ABPS and their Board Certification in Family Medicine Obstetrics has been essential for me and many of my colleagues in getting privileges and thereby creating local access for mothers and their children.

Ashish Anand, MD, FAASOS
John B. Waits, MD
Family Medicine Obstetrics
Board certification through the American Board of Physician Specialties has served to substantiate my interest and additional training in several fields of medicine including Internal Medicine, Disaster Medicine, and Administrative Medicine. As a result, I have been able to serve my community in clinical, disaster response, and administrative medicine roles. Through the ABPS, I have become recognized as a leader in my various fields of interest.

Spencer Price MD, MPH, MBA
Administrative Medicine
In this era, when continuous updated medical knowledge means so much to you, when quality of emergency care matters most to you ,when you need to excel in your medical career to continue providing exceptional service to your critically ill patients, please consider board certification with the Boad of Certification in Emergency Medicine (BCEM). Where your knowledge & expertise translates to credentialing & certification with wider approval & recognition every day at many fronts. We Welcome you to join our team for a brighter future of our emergency healthcare where dedication to profession relies not solely on clinical practice but also on sound academic certification.

Ashish Anand, MD, FAASOS
Ashraf A. Gerges, MD, FAAEP
Emergency Medicine
Board certification in Orthopedic Surgery through the American Board of Physician Specialties validated my training and surgical experience through a process that was both rigorous and respectful of real-world practice. ABPS recognizes clinical competence, not just credentials, and that sets it apart.

Ashish Anand, MD, FAASOS
Ashish Anand, MD, FAASOS
Orthopedic Surgery
The American Board of Physician Specialties is a forward- thinking organization that focuses on where Medicine is going, not just where it has been. Traditional Certification Boards like Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Dermatology are represented as are Integrative Medicine, Disaster Medicine, and Family Medicine-Obstetrics. Physicians appreciate the ability to showcase their skills and knowledge through Board Certification, and this organization allows excellent physicians the ability to bring their skills to patients. The dedication and commitment of this organization and its volunteers will ensure ongoing distinction and commitment for decades to come.

Jeffrey B. Stricker, DO, MBA, FAASD
Jeffrey B. Stricker, DO, MBA, FAASD
Dermatology
Serving as a member on the American board of Integrative Medicine (ABOIM) for many years and now serving as a Member at Large of the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) has been an enriching and rewarding experience. The board’s commitment to excellence, integrity, and positive impact is truly inspiring. I am grateful to collaborate with such a dedicated and visionary group, and I am proud of the meaningful progress we continue to achieve together.

Arti Prasad, MD, FACP
Arti Prasad, MD, FACP
Integrative Medicine
There are many ways board certification advances a physician career. ABPS Board examination verifies your accuracy, precision, and reflects your mastery of your residency training verifying your expertise. ABPS Board certification demonstrates your level of expertise beyond your practice experience, primary education degrees, and training which are necessary for insurance reimbursement and practice privilege requirements. Attaining your ABPS Board Certification will clarify your purpose, secure your practice growth, and expand into leadership positions. Board certification can serve as an indication of a physician’s commitment to medicine, beyond the minimal standards and competency of training, their measurement to quality of care, and attaining an award for excellence.

Chris Kunis MD
Internal Medicine
When the American Board of Physician Specialties offered to host the American Board of Integrative Medicine, ABPS became a landmark organization working to move medicine into the twenty first century. Certifying physicians who have completed rigorous academic training in Integrative Medicine ensures that the field of Integrative Medicine will continue to develop academically, clinically, and professionally. The leadership of ABPS continues to impress me - they are diligent in constantly innovating to provide certifications for physicians who want to advance their careers and their areas of expertise. I am honored to be a part of this organization.

Ann Marie Chiasson, MD
Integrative Medicine
On October 18, 2007, President George W. Bush released Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 (HSPD-21), calling on our nation, among other initiatives, to “collectively support and facilitate the establishment of a discipline of disaster health”. It is a great testament to the wisdom and foresight of the American Board of Physician Specialties that it immediately set to work and created, within the short span of only one year, an educational blueprint and set of certification examinations, both written and oral, for a new subspecialty of disaster medicine—and it is why I chose to be part this vital initiative and this wonderful organization. This is but one of the many innovative programs initiated by the American Board of Physician Specialties over the years, and why I am proud to support its work on behalf of our nation’s public health.

Art Cooper, MD
Disaster Medicine
Far too often, medicine is led by less than 5% of non-practicing physicians taking away and replacing the voice of the 95% of physicians practicing and placing patient safety and care first on the front lines every day. The American Board of Physician Specialties has raised the standards in physician board certification not only in the quality of their boards of certification, but in hearing and allowing for the voice of those active physicians caring directly for patients. Having been a part of the ABPS over the last 28 years has allowed me to grow as a woman leader in a field often wrought with challenges. It helped me and others raise the bar of the standards of care in my specialty, Emergency Medicine, through their Board Certification in Emergency Medicine (BCEM). ABPS also helped raise the standards of care for 21st century medicine through their certifications in other specialties, particularly in Integrative Medicine & Disaster Medicine. Having physician voices heard matters to medicine and is essential in the betterment of patient safety and care.

Sarah E. Gilbert, MD, FAAEP
Sarah E. Gilbert, MD, FAAEP
Emergency Medicine
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