Confession time here. Last week, I took the CCP-C exam and it kicked me in several places. In all honesty, I was pretty arrogant to think that I might know enough critical care paramedicine to pass the exam without having had the benefit of a critical care course. Having said that, I did come closer to passing than I probably should have.
Upon reflection though, I realized the real mistake I made. I listened to some of my friends who said that going over the various test prep books and programs would be sufficient to get a “smart guy like you” through the exam. I spent a fair amount of time in these books and the websites and still came away a bit short. What I didn’t spend the time doing was actually learning the material and gaining mastery of it. Instead of practice questions about vent settings, lab values, and hemodynamic monitoring, I should’ve been learning those concepts frontward and backward. It wasn’t the cheapest exam by any stretch. But I think I got a very inexpensive lesson in doing the right things for my professional development and for my patients.
The practice of medicine is not merely passing a test. The tests occur every day with each of our patients. We owe it to them and ourselves to master our knowledge base and keep expanding our knowledge base. Reality isn’t a multiple choice exam. Our real test occurs when the pager goes off and we get sent into the unknown. Whether it’s the medical first responder exam or board certification in a physician subspecialty, an exam measures entry level competency. Let’s stop preparing to be merely entry level competent. Let’s start preparing to be the masters of our profession.
EMS will be a better place and we’ll have better providers when we stop hearing about the exam and the “tricks” to pass it. Instead, we should start worrying much more about comprehending the underlying material that’s on the exam. Of course, mastery of the material is much more complex than merely regurgitating crammed material for a multiple choice exam….
As for me, I’m going to retake the exam eventually, but not until I’ve read and understood critical care medicine from a physician level text on ICU medicine. Why? Because I don’t get multiple choice options in real life and I’ve yet to be able to choose which patients I get.
WHAT? We don’t get a choice of patients A, B, C, or D? WTF!