Novel interactive text-messaging curriculum for endocrinology board review

Background

The ABIM certification exam is one of the measures to ensure that physicians have the clinical skills for good care delivery. The 5-year average pass rate for ABIM Endocrinology exam is 82%. The pass rate significantly decreased to a nadir of 74% in 2021 and 2022, lowest of all medicine subspecialties.

Objectives

To assess the feasibility of text messaging curriculum for fellows and its utility in improving their test performance.

Methods

In 2021, endocrinology fellows from 51 programs across the country were invited to participate in our curriculum. They completed a pre-test, joined a texting group via Remind application and received 1 multiple choice question daily (total n = 78). After 15 weeks, they completed a post-test and survey. Paired results from pre- and post-test were compared.

Results

A total of 89 fellows from 27 programs responded. Of these, 82 fellows, predominantly females (n = 60; 73 %), filled out the pre-test. On an average, 42 fellows (SD = 12) responded to the questions daily and 57 % of them answered the questions within 24 h. Thirty fellows completed the post-test. The median number of correct responses on the pre-test was 5 (IQR 3–6), compared to 8 (IQR 6–9) in the post-test. There was a significant improvement (p-value < 0.0001) in fellows’ performance in the post-test when compared with the pre-test following our intervention.

Conclusions

Text-messaging based curriculum for exam preparation is feasible and can improve test performance. Fellows find receiving a daily high yield multiple choice question via text-message as a useful tool for exam preparation.