The NBME will continue piloting of the APB program with U.S. residency and fellowship programs for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years. To be considered for the first year of the APB pilot (academic year 2009-10), applications will be accepted up until August 15, 2009. We welcome applications from programs that meet the requirements listed below. Programs may apply to participate for one or both academic years. There is no charge to programs that are accepted and participate in the pilot.

Programs must be based in the United States

Technology: Participating programs must have access to and sufficient knowledge of Advanced Informatics (E*Value) OR New Innovations (Residency Management Suite) to assign and distribute the APB instrument.  The instrument will be loaded into these systems by the NBME.

Size of Observer Pool: Observers are those who do the observation and fill out the APB instrument to provide feedback to the observee (the resident or faculty member who is the subject of the observation).  We strongly recommend that your program have an observer pool of 15+ individuals.

Observer Groups:  Multisource feedback means that feedback is provided by more than one observer group.  For this pilot, we require that programs include observers from at least two observer groups (e.g., residents (peers) and faculty).  Observers can be chosen from any of the following groups: faculty, fellows, residents, medical students, nurses, administrative staff, others. Please note that patient feedback is not yet supported. Programs that plan to use more than the minimum two observer groups are encouraged to apply.

Feedback:   Individual feedback reports (for observees) will be provided by the NBME in November 2009, May 2010, November 2010, and May 2011.  Programs must receive feedback reports and conduct face-to-face feedback sessions with observees at least once per year of participation.

IRB Approval: Your program will be required to obtain local IRB approval for participating in this pilot.  The NBME will provide materials to help in the IRB application process.

Research: Programs must agree to provide feedback to the NBME regarding their experience with the APB pilot.  This may include encouraging participants to complete a survey about their experience, or participate in a focus group or interview to provide feedback on the APB process, instrument and/or feedback report.

Data Sharing: Participating programs will be required to share their multisource feedback data resulting from the APB instrument with the NBME.  The data will be used for research purposes only (see Data Use Statement), and can be submitted to the NBME in a de-identified format.

PLEASE NOTE: If selected to participate your institution will need to sign a legal agreement outlining responsibilities of your program and the NBME

Brief Overview of APB Program

2009-11 APB Pilot Orientation - view with narration
We strongly encourage  program directors, other program champions, and coordinators to view this presentation to learn more about APB implementation prior to completing an application.
Print the Presentation (right click and choose save as)

Data Use Statement
The NBME’s position on proper use of data resulting from APB implementation.

2009 Application
Link to online application form. Please note that you will not be able to save an unfinished application to complete at a later time. You may find it useful to download and review the application questions below prior to completing the online form.
Download 2009 Application Questions

(Applications for the 2010-11 academic year will start being accepted in March 2010.)

Submit Application by …	Notified of acceptance by…	Plan to start APB by…
March 15, 2009	April 1, 2009	July 1, 2009
April 15, 2009	May 1, 2009	July 1, 2009
May 15, 2009	June 1, 2009	July 1, 2009
June 15, 2009	July 1, 2009	August 1, 2009
July 15, 2009	August 1, 2009	September 1, 2009
August 15, 2009	September 1, 2009	October 1, 2009

PLEASE NOTE: We have a limited number of spaces for the 2009-10 academic year. If maximum capacity is reached prior to the end of this application schedule, future submissions will be considered for participation in the 2010-11 academic year.