On a recent, LIVE episode of The Accelerators, the question of "what happened to RadOnc" was answered, in part, by referencing the unusually high failure rate of board certification exams. It has now been 5 years since those events, and medical students/junior residents are unlikely to know "the story". This is my version of a documentary/editorial on "the 2018 exams", which starts with a 2012 CNN report, exam restructuring, NRMP reports, ARRO letters, PRO papers - all of it. Though impossible for me to tell the story utterly objectively, I have tried to include all major milestones should folks feel inclined to "check my sources".

Then, in a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan, I discuss why hitting this "rock bottom" has brought out some of the most inspiring people our field has, and why I think there's a bright light at the end of this tunnel.

It's easy to lose hope, but remember the ACROpolis and...Rome wasn't built in a day.

***ERRATA*** I realized after uploading this that the "trending downward" paper was published prior to the 2018 exams. I'll leave this as-is, because my error demonstrates the purpose of this project.

Relevant papers:

https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.12120251

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2020.04.010

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2018.03.005

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2018.12.046

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2013.05.027

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2018.04.005

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2018.04.005

Earn free CME by reflecting on the content of this episode: https://earnc.me/E9XHPi

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Twitter: @drbeckta