title: Residencies with dual internal medicine and pediatrics programs outperform others on the American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose was to evaluate American Board of Pediatrics Certifying Examination performance based on if a residency offers a dual internal medicine-pediatrics program, hypothesizing that having a dual-accreditation program is associated with higher exam performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pediatric residency programs in the United States were retrospectively evaluated from 2010 to 2012. The accreditation status was determined. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed for continuous variables, and χ(2) tests were performed for categorical variables, using an α = .05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For 190 residencies, 75 (39%) had dual Med-Peds accreditation whereas 115 (61%) did not. The median overall residency pass rate for Med-Peds accredited programs (83%; interquartile range = 74% to 91%) was higher than other programs (78%; interquartile range = 65% to 89%; P = .02). The pass rate for examinees from Med-Peds accredited programs (n = 4,108; 84.2%) was higher than examinees from other programs (n = 4,310; 79.6%; P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of a dual-accreditation residency program should be a consideration of future applicants.
authors.affiliation: Owensboro Health, Owensboro, KY, USA john.falconemd@owensborohealth.org.
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Falcone
mesh_terms: D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000193:education*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000193:education*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States
keywords: Med-Peds; certification; educational measurement; internal medicine; pediatrics; specialty boards