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THE DIVISION OF GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY
EXAMINATIONS LEADING TO CERTIFICATION IN GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY
The Written Examination
The scope of the examination will include advanced knowledge in the subjects outlined in the "Guide to Learning in Gynecologic Oncology."
The Oral Examination
In the oral examination, evaluation of the candidate will include critical review and discussion of the thesis, questions related to principles of biostatistics and clinical trial design, review of the case lists, hypothetical cases, discussion of surgical techniques, interpretation of operative videos and computer-generated images (gross and microscopic pathology, imaging techniques, intraoperative photographs, etc.), structured cases, and questions related to the content of the "Guide to Learning in Gynecologic Oncology".
Instructions for Preparation of Practice Summary and Case Lists
The candidate must submit seven (7) copies of all hospitalized gynecologic oncology patients and all other hospitalized patients in whose care the applicant had significant participation during a one-year period of time, and eight (8) copies of the summary sheet.
The type may not be smaller than 10 point. The case collection period will be January 1 - December 31 in the year prior to the one in which the oral examination is to be taken. For example, case collection will occur between January 1 and December 31, 2007, for the April 7-9, 2008, oral examination.
This listing of patients shall (1) be prepared in accordance with the format enclosed in the current application form and (2) be certified by appropriate personnel of the institution(s) in which the care took place.
The candidate must assure that the patient case lists provided have been "de-identified" in accordance with the requirements of Section 164.514(b)(2)(i)&(ii) of the final Privacy Rule Standards for Privacy of the Individually Identifiable Health Information issued by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The information which must be removed from patient, hospital and other physician records in order for the patient case lists to be deemed "de-identified" under the HIPAA Privacy Rule .
The case list is due on February 1 of the same year that the oral examination is administered. All case lists submitted are subject to random or directed audit by the ABOG in order to ensure completeness and accuracy.
For purposes of this preparation, gynecologic oncology patients are defined as women with:
a. pre-invasive or invasive cancer of female reproductive organs.
b. conditions resulting from the growth of gynecologic cancer or from related therapy (e.g., infection, fistulae, obstruction).
c. clinical conditions which portend gynecologic cancer but cannot be identified as such or clarified until surgery is performed (e.g., adnexal masses, postmenopausal bleeding, ascites).
The patients listed individually must be only those for whom the candidate has had personal responsibility for the professional management and care during the indicated period of hospitalization.
The lists MAY NOT include those women seen only in consultation or for whom he/she has had only administrative responsibility.
This record of professional responsibility certifies that the candidate has personally controlled the medical and/or surgical management of each patient listed. For example, if the patient had surgery or a radium application, the candidate must have taken part in the procedure in order for this patient to be included in the case list.
When such a patient is listed, the candidate should indicate his/her role in the procedure according to one of the following categories:
1. Surgeon: operating surgeon assisted by others.
2. Co-surgeon: operating surgeon for a major portion of a procedure (i.e., doing one side of an operation or one part of a two-team procedure).
3. Instructor: first assistant to a trainee who is the surgeon.
4. Assistant: scrubbed on an operation but not acting in one of the above categories.
A preoperative diagnosis should be recorded for each major or minor surgical procedure.
For patients having several hospital admissions during the time period of the report, the patient should be listed only once with each hospitalization listed beneath in chronological sequence.
For nonsurgical conditions, the admission diagnosis should be recorded.
In cases without tissue for histological diagnosis, the final clinical diagnosis should be listed.
Non-cancer patients must be listed chronologically on separate forms provided.
The case lists must have sufficient numbers and sufficient breadth and depth of clinical difficulty. They must include a minimum of 50 patients with significant problems, that is, at least 50 patients with invasive neoplasms. These clinical problems, of course, will vary according to the nature of the candidate's practices. The problems, however, must be of sufficient variety and severity to permit the evaluation of a candidate's ability to function as a gynecologic oncologist.
These lists must include patients having radical surgical procedures, insertions of radioactive isotopes and chemotherapy.
Instructions for Preparation of Thesis
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