How Two ABFM Diplomates Developed the Care of Women KSA

In May 2022, ABFM released the newest Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA) activity, centering on the Care of Women. This new KSA combined content from two previous KSAs, Women’s Health and Maternity Care, to provide a better understanding of unique health care needs experienced by women.

Featured topics include gynecologic conditions, reproductive health, the diagnosis and treatment of behavioral and mental health conditions, pre-conception care, prenatal care, and medical conditions that may occur during pregnancy. In the development of new KSAs, ABFM relies on Diplomates who volunteer their time to assist with the research and careful planning that go into the process. We wanted to highlight this experience with readers by asking two physicians instrumental to the process to share their thoughts.

Dr. Matthew Cline, the Family Medicine Residency Director of AnMed Health Medical Center in South Carolina, has served on ABFM’s In-Training Exam (ITE) Review Committee for the last six years. In 2005, he was a question writer for the original Maternity Care KSA, and returned in 2012 as a Peer Reviewer to assist in the Maternity Care KSA’s update. When ABFM’s Executive Vice President Dr. Elizabeth
(Libby) Baxley began efforts to combine the Maternity Care and Women’s Health KSAs, she knew just who to call.

“I’m a residency director, and I teach obstetrics regularly. It’s always great to be a part of this KSA development as it strengthens my knowledge base for those residents,” Dr. Cline explained. “Libby was very clear that, with this KSA, our real goal was to make it practical.”

“We wanted to say, ‘These are core things that would affect physicians in practice.”

Drs. Cline and Baxley began their work by starting with two current KSAs and seeking the best topics from each to combine into a new, single KSA, that would provide relevant material to all physicians, even if they do not provide maternity care. Once this step was complete, the process of revising and updating the questions, critiques, and references with current evidence. As this process was moving along, they were also interested in adding some questions that represented new developments in the field of women’s health care. That’s when they were made aware of Dr. Christine Dehlendorf.

Dr. Dehlendorf is a Professor of Family Community Medicine at the University of California who oversees a Person-Centered Reproductive Health Program, volunteers at a Planned Parenthood site once per week, and provides primary care at a San Francisco-based Family Health Center.

“Dr. Baxley and I talked about how the Board could provide evidence-based and reproductive autonomy aligned information to people completing the KSA. My two questions added were on contraceptive counseling and self-injection of the contraceptive, Depo Provera,” said Dr. Dehlendorf.

Because reproductive health is an evolving landscape, ABFM is mindful of the opportunity to add and/or revise self-assessment items to enhance the ability of physicians to identity their knowledge gaps and use the critiques and references for learning. Collaboration with physicians like Dr. Dehlendorf and Dr. Cline are key to meeting the needs of patients and physicians alike.

“As teachers, we must be sure that we are disseminating evidence-based and patient centered information to ABFM Diplomates. KSAs are a key tool in doing that,” Dr. Dehlendorf said.

Thank you Dr. Dehlendorf and Dr. Cline for your hard work and dedication to the field. ABFM recently completed an initiative to update all of the 60-item, topic-specific, KSAs to move to a single best answer format with revised critiques all critiques and contemporary references. The new Care of Women KSA is available now and can be accessed inside your MyABFM Portfolio.

Aaron Burch serves as Editorial Content Manager for the American Board of Family Medicine. He has been writing professionally in the health care field since 2014.