Download a brochure

The American Board of Urgent Care Medicine, (ABUCM) (formerly the American Board of Ambulatory Medicine) was established in 1997. The Board is a private, non-profit organization. The American Board of Urgent Care Medicine is an independent certifying body, meeting the high standards required for recognition by the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine, (AAUCM) (formerly the American Academy of Ambulatory Care). The ABUCM is committed to the certification of qualified urgent care physicians. The admission to the certification process is based on the education, practice, and experienced-based requirements set forth by the Board. 

The ABUCM is a proud member of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) [formerly the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA)]. ICE is dedicated to providing educational, networking and advocacy resources for the credentialing community. ICE promotes excellence in credentialing worldwide. 

 **Because of increased administrative costs the price of the Exam Application will increase to $50 and the Exam Fee will increase to $950. These changes will take affect November 15, 2012.**

Meaning of Certification

Certification by the ABUCM recognizes excellence in the discipline of Urgent Care Medicine. Board Certification is not a requirement to practice urgent care medicine. The Board does not intend to interfere with nor to restrict the professional activities of a licensed physician who is not Board Certified, or to restrict the professional activities of a Certified Diplomate.

The ABUCM proposes that the physicians who advertise themselves as "board certified" in Urgent Care Medicine, have in fact been certified in their area of expertise by a specialty board that uses procedures and standards sufficient to ensure that the certified physician has the training, knowledge, and skills necessary to assure the public that he or she is a qualified medical specialist.

Goals of the ABUCM

The goals of ABUCM are to establish high standards of clinical competence, improve the quality of patient care, and to promote continuing education that is required for professional excellence. The ABUCM is self-funded from the fees paid by candidates. Any income that exceeds expenses is invested in the continuing improvement of the certification and re-certification process.

The American Board of Urgent Care Medicine

The ABUCM serves two interrelated functions: to certify properly qualified candidates in the specialty of Urgent Care Medicine, and to ensure recognition of the resulting board certification.

The first aspect of the certifying process requires the review of training and credentials, with selected candidates permitted to have their application go before the review board. Malpractice past history is reviewed and trends are evaluated. This process further allows the board to become familiar with practice patterns that will help the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine focus on educational needs of physicians in urgent care medicine.

The first phase of the certification process is the review of physicians' charts and the manner in which they provide care. The board selects 36 charts to be reviewed. The board looks to the manner in which a physician presents his/her patients, the manner of documentation, interpretation of data and treatment, instructions and follow-up recommendations provided to the patient. This provides the board a "real-life" practice evaluation of how physicians treat their patients.

The next phase of the ABUCM is in the construction of a valid certifying examination. Some boards solicit questions from their members, then the examination committee of the board selects and edits the questions they deem to be of good quality. The ABUCM Examination Council goes beyond this model; it has prepared an examination that reflects the actual practice of Urgent Care Medicine.

The ABUCM Examination

The foundation of the ABUCM examination is the practice analysis survey. Thousands of Urgent Care Medicine physicians, representing all specialties of origin, were asked to complete questionnaires about their own practice. The most recent survey, in which numerous physicians were ABUCM Diplomates, were asked to comment on the types of patients they see and the type of procedures they provided. The examination was then designed to test the areas of knowledge determined to be essential for the current competent practice of Urgent Care Medicine across all clinical settings.

The content of the examination is divided into more than a dozen main knowledge areas including: anatomy/physiology, medicine, surgery, pediatrics, dermatology, infectious disease, pain medicine, radiology, orthopedics, pharmacology, psychiatry, sports medicine, occupational medicine, and compensation/disability/medical-legal issues. These areas are further divided into a matrix of sections. The information from the practice analysis survey is then used to determine the number of items to include under each of the knowledge areas.

The examination items consist of three types: recall, application, and synthesis/evaluation. Each type is assigned an estimated difficulty level (easy, moderate and difficult) for the competent Urgent Care Medicine physician. These variations in complexity are then incorporate into the examination matrix. All items are supported by reference to peer-reviewed literature. Items that may yield controversial answers or may be unsupported statements are then discarded.

The ABUCM has selected a premiere professional educational consultant who oversees the practical elements of the examination. The examination has been psychometrically validated.

Applications

To download an application for the Board Certification Exam, please click Exam Application in the menu.