Association of Internship With Performance on American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Certification Examinations

Physical medicine and rehabilitation residents must complete 12 mos of fundamental skills training before beginning physical medicine and rehabilitation residency. The objective of this study is to determine if characteristics of the first postgraduate year impact performance on American Board of PM&R initial certification examinations. A retrospective review was conducted on a deidentified American Board of PM&R database of physicians who completed physical medicine and rehabilitation residency and took the Part I Examination between 2008 and 2022. Physicians who completed categorical residency programs in physical medicine and rehabilitation had higher pass rates on Part I than physicians who completed advanced programs. Physicians who completed a categorical program had higher scaled scores on the Part II Examination than physicians who completed either a transitional or nontransitional advanced program but pass rates did not differ. Completing less than 3 mos of training in internal medicine before starting physical medicine and rehabilitation was associated with lower Part I and Part II Examination scaled scores than completing 3 or more months. Physicians who completed 6 or more months of internal medicine had higher Part I and Part II Examination pass rates and scaled scores than physicians who completed 6 or more months in surgery.