Hello everyone! First off, I'm very excited to be appointed an ASHP BCPS Recertification Ambassador! That means that I have been given access to ASHP's Pharmacotherapy Recertification materials so that I can review them and share my opinions with you all. Before I start my first review, I wanted to give a couple disclaimers:
- I am in my 3rd year of my first certification cycle, and I have already done a few of ASHP's Recertification Literature Reviews, and I have really enjoyed them (more on why later).
- I have not done any other kind of recertification CE from ASHP or ACCP, so I cannot compare the quality of those products (ASHP intensive study review will be upcoming in a few months).
- I plan on always doing CE for maintaining my certification. I worry too much about leaving recertification up to how an exam day goes (because you know, Murphy's Law...).
I plan to post a blog about each of the recertification CE activities I do (roughly 1 per month). This month, I did the Literature Review Module 1A: Cardiology & Statistics (Nested Case-Control). The Literature Review Modules will provide you with pdf's of primary literature on a given clinical topic as well as usually at least one article on relevant statistical topics. For this module, there were 4 articles total plus a supplementary appendix for one of the clinical articles. The Cardiology topics were Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction and Secondary Prophylaxis for MI, and the Stats topic was Nested Case-Control studies. After reading the articles, the required assessment was 18 questions, and a passing score was 77% (so at least 14 questions right- yes, I was always that kind of student), and you're given unlimited time to take it (but only 1 attempt).
I really enjoy the Literature Review Modules overall. I am an Infectious Disease specialist, so these modules force me to read primary literature in areas which are not my specialty. I also really like that they review statistics as a part of the modules, and give articles that explain sometimes tricky stats concepts. That being said, the assessment questions are not always "gimmes." I'm pretty sure if I didn't have a strong stats background from my MPH, I may not have passed some of the assessments.
The Module 1A was no different than my prior experiences. I really enjoyed reading one of the articles which looked at the effect of changing pill color and shape on patient non-adherence after an MI, an article I probably would not read more than just the abstract for (at most). Which class of drugs was most likely to change in color and/or shape? You'll have to take the Module to find out!
The two articles on nested case-control studies were helpful, but I still think the concept of nested case-control studies is very difficult to comprehend (our students this past year were super confused about it during their Evidence Based Pharmacy course). The assessment questions were not simply straight forward questions, but involved some application of concepts. So you definitely cannot passively take this assessment and pass! I wish we had access to the correct answers so that we could learn from mistakes (I missed 1 question, but there were 4 that I wasn't very confident in), even if that was after the deadline for CE credit.
That's my first review of an ASHP Recertification Product. I will try to review a different product every month, so look for my next one in April. Have you used the ASHP Literature Review Modules before and if so, how did you like them?
~Lindsey