Developing Content Domain Weights for the 2025 Family Medicine Certification Scale.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Board Certification
• Family Medicine

Background:

• The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is implementing a new examination blueprint starting January 2025.
• This blueprint will guide content for the Family Medicine Certification Examination, In-Training Examination, Family Medicine Certification Longitudinal Assessment, and Continuous Knowledge Self-Assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the methodology used to determine the percentage of questions allocated to each content domain within the new ABFM examination blueprint.
• To ensure examination content accurately reflects the scope of family practice.

Main Methods:

• A survey was distributed to 2000 clinically active ABFM Diplomates.
• Respondents reported the frequency and patient harm risk associated with 202 distinct clinical activities.
• Survey data was used to calculate recommended percentages for each examination content domain.

Main Results:

• The survey achieved a 48% response rate.
• Demographic data of respondents were representative of the ABFM-certified, clinically active Diplomate population.
• The results informed the proportional allocation of questions across content domains.

Conclusions:

• The developed examination content is directly linked to the clinical activities essential to family practice.
• The methodology considers both the frequency of clinical activities and the potential risk of patient harm.
• This approach ensures the examinations accurately assess the breadth and depth of family medicine practice.