Board Certificate

Proficiency (board) exam- certificate

Motivation of medical microbiologists for the proficiency exam and certification is necessary, since medical specialty proficiency exams are not obligatory in Turkey. To achieve this goal a series of workshops for the proficiency exam and certificate were organized. It was decided that the proficiency exam should be useful for self evaluation and improvement, minimize the exam stress, be easy to access, and give a prestigious qualification. This approach led to the establishment of an on-line examination process.

The on-line (web-based) exam which has two parts (theoretical part and practical part) is applied in multiple exam centers in different provinces. The applicant reaches the result of the exam upon completion and the rates of the exam are confidential. All the questions and answers are explained in the system (web site) after the exam is finished.

A portfolio is also needed for proficiency certification. The portfolio contains; Marks collected from on-line quizes, winter school, professional workshops, continuing medical education meetings and programmes of the microbiology societies, presentations in scientific meetings, scientific publications, participation to quality control programs, audits, participation to national surveillance programmes for microbiology and infectious diseases, scientific projects, participation to the preparation of laboratory guides.

On-line quizes are accessible to the members of the society. Personal credits are obtained upon the completion of the quizes.

To motivate the members to get the certificate; winter schools are organized to improve the competencies of the specialists (discount for the proficiency exam applicants) and scholarships are given for the members who have the proficiency certificate.

Board certificate is given by the application of the candidate with her/his exam result and portfolio. At least 60 points should be got from both theoretical part and practical part of the exam. To get the TBMM Certificate at least a total of 100 points should be fullfilled. The certificate points are calculated by taking 70% of the exam points plus the credits obtained from the portfolio activities.