The Oral Board Examination: the real bottom line

The Oral Board Examinations given by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) are indispensable in assessing interpersonal competence. While unavoidably stressful to all involved, only through live patient interviews can we attempt to understand psychiatrists' feelings for their fellow human beings, their capacity for rapport, their competent handling of sensitive areas and their basic style of relating to troubled people. The orals are fair, the process is reliable, constant striving for improvement is present and while absolute perfection is unreachable their validity has been substantiated by experience.