III. Requirements for Application:
Candidates wishing to become Diplomates of the Board must complete a formal written application, which will be furnished by the Professional Testing Corporation upon request. To apply, a candidate must provide and meet the following requirements:
(1) an up to date curriculum vitae or resume
(2) prior to Jan 01, 2011 posses a minimum of an earned master's degree in a physical science, life science or clinical allied health profession from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the World Health Organization in the case of foreign medical graduates AND successfully completed graduate level course work in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology with a passing grade. Beginning Jan 01, 2011 the minimum degree level will be that of a doctorate along with all other prerequisites still applicable. Evidence of this information in the form of an official transcript from the issuing institution must be provided with each application;
(3) have at least three years experience in the field of neurophysiologic monitoring;
(4) submit a log of a minimum of 300 cases monitored with the primary responsibility for supervising and professional interpretation, 100 cases in which the applicant physically performed the majority of the technical aspects of monitoring to validate their experience, skill, and ability in the field of neuromonitoring. This list must contain the date of each procedure, the type of surgery, the name of the responsible surgeon and the hospital where each procedure was undertaken. The log also needs to indicate which cases were physically performed. Further, the dates of the log must reflect work performed over a minimum of any 36 months with at least 1 case being monitored per month.
(5) provide statements from two attending surgeons capable of attesting to their experience and expertise. The Review Committee of the Board, at its discretion, may require additional letters of support.
(6) provide a completed statement from a qualifying, supervising neurophysiologist describing the training and supervision provided to the applicant during the applicant's three years experience, or, the required 300 cases. A qualifying supervising neurophysiologist is either an individual with Board Certification from the American Board of Neurophysiologic Monitoring or, a licensed physician who is Board Certified in Neurology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and who has Fellowship training in Clinical Neurophysiology including intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring. The supervising neurophysiologist must provide evidence of a minimum of 3 years experience in intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) including at least 2 years of supervisory experience in IONM . Exceptions to the qualifications of the supervising neurophysiologist may be made at the discretion of the Board and/or the Review Committee of the Board. The form to be used for this statement (Appendix A) will be provided to the applicant by the Board and/or the testing service designated by the Board and must be completed by the Supervising Neurophysiologist and returned directly to the Board and/or the testing service designated by the Board by the application deadline. Acceptance of the Supervising Neurophysiologist's statement will be at the discretion of the Board and must occur for the applicant's application to be deemed complete. Applicants may provide official statements from multiple Supervising Neurophysiologists.
All material submitted with the application will be formally be reviewed by the Review Committee and a recommendation concerning eligibility made to the Chairman of the Board. Should a candidate's application be deficient in any respect, the Chairman of the Board will be notified by the Review Committee and he in turn will notify PTC or the candidate directly concerning the issue at hand in an attempt to clarify or rectify the recognized deficiency.
There were specific reasons for each of these criteria that revolved around the aspect of professional development and experience. The acquisition of an advanced degree indicates the demonstration of cognitive, analytic and data interpretational skills and the mastery of an advanced knowledge base that distinguishes the individual at a professional level. Since most candidates will not have completed a recognizable training program in neurophysiological monitoring that can certify the individual's competence in the field, these criteria must serve as a substitute (i.e. peer recognition of competence through participation in monitoring teams). The Board decided to approach this peer recognition using documentation of substantial experience in monitoring with the recognition that a sufficient case load should signal professional growth and maturation in the skills necessary for monitoring. The attestation statement of two surgeons is used to confirm the level of professional maturation by this experience. This is congruent with the only published evidence that relates to competency that shows case experience correlates positively with patient outcome. As such, a minimum of 300 cases for which they had personally monitored is required with the additional requirement that their experience extended over a minimum of three years.
Upon acceptance of a candidate's application to become a Diplomate of the Board, the Board or its authorized agent will notify the candidate that their application has been approved and furnish a list of the times and places of the next two scheduled examinations for such certification. Proof of such approval shall be required for the candidate to register to sit for the examination. Any and all questions concerning eligibility should be made directly to the Chairman of the ABNM Board. |
