Dr. O’Boyle: The SHM SPARK review absolutely helped me perform well on the sections that were covered. I think it is almost essential to prepare for the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam.
Dr. Crone: I passed, so I’d label that effective! In some cases, using SHM SPARK, I scored 90% or better on a first pass on questions with no review; that has not been my experience with MKSAP or Med Study questions. The only recommendation I would have is to make some of the questions a bit more rigorous. However, SHM SPARK clearly met a need nothing else did.
Q: If you were to tell a fellow hospitalist one thing about SHM SPARK, what would it be?
Dr. O’Boyle: I encourage everyone to purchase it. It is an excellent resource guide. The way the exam is currently designed, you may need the additional 40% of exam content covered by SHM SPARK in order to pass. By that, I mean that some of the medical questions were so complicated and cumbersome that they were at the specialist level and not at all representative of what a typical hospitalist routinely encounters, in my opinion. Therefore, knowing this portion of the exam content through SHM SPARK made up for the questions that I felt should not have been fair game. I, for one, would likely not have passed without SHM SPARK.
Dr. Crone: It’s worth the time, effort, and cost. Although much or most of the exam content was couched in a clinical scenario, substantive content existed on the MOC exam around these subject areas. To not use some form of structured approach to covering this material would have been a mistake.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK is extremely valuable if you plan to take the FPHM exam as it highlights many areas not covered by any other review material. It offers great CME, too! TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.
More Info
For more information about how SHM SPARK can help you master your preparation for the FPHM MOC exam this fall, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/SPARK.