Family Practice Exam

The Family Practice Exam, otherwise called the AFBM (American Board of Family Medicine) exam, is a certification exam for doctors practicing family medicine. Family medicine is the field of medicine that allows one doctor to integrate knowledge of a family's medical history into the overall health care plan for the family. This includes their diagnoses for preventative and palliative care. Family practice physicians see patients of all ages and both sexes. Family practice physicians tend to be generalists because they work with such a broad range of health issues. Newborn children have different medical issues and needs than senior citizens, yet they all fall under the umbrella a family practice physician. The family practice medical professional is the family's entry point into a larger health care system of specialists. The AFBM exam and certification ensures families that their medical professionals have a standard corpus of knowledge and training.

The ABFM exam has five sections, which come to candidates through a computer. The exam takes a full eight-hour day. All candidates take the core exam and two modules chosen on the day of the exam. These modules deal with specific issues, such as geriatrics, maternity care, children's medicine, emergency medicine, sports medicine, and ambulatory family medicine. There are eight module choices in all. The core exam covers the full breadth of general patient care. Questions cover the medical issues involving all of the organs and systems of the body.

Topic titles include cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, reproductive, nephrology, and respiratory. There are also questions about medical populations as well as individual bodies. There are questions about topics such as epidemiology and statistics. There is also a group of questions about professional practice covering medical ethics, professional communication, and legal regulations. Candidates must have completed their residencies before they are eligible to take the exam.

Family Practice Exam Study Guide | Family Practice Test Flashcards | Family Practice Exam