Fourth European Board Examination in Neurology

The 4th UEMS European Board Examination in Neurology took place during the 16th EFNS Congress in Stockholm, Sweden on September 7, 2012.
For this examination 23 canditates from 13 different countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Iraq, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom) participated. The structure of the examination followed the previous examinations (see www.uems neuroboard.org) except for two changes: A new passing limit was introduced for the MCQ questions and 8 case vignettes instead of four were presented to the candidates.

The passing limit for the examination for the first time was set according to scientific standards using the Nedelsky method and was set at 65% which equals 78 of the 120 MCQs. The additional case vignettes were evaluated according to the previous procedure.
After the electronic evaluation of the MCQ tests the outcome was announced to the candidates by Dr. Bisdorff (President UEMS SBN) and Prof. Mellgren (Chairman of the Examination Committee) individually. Five candidates did not pass the written part and two candidates did not pass the oral examination.

In addition all candidates were offered the possibility to give a voluntary free presentation on a case history from their own practice, scientific results or other own neurological achievements. All candidates took this opportunity and held presentations for a faculty consisting of Dr. Alexandre Bisdorff, Prof. Svein Ivar Mellgren and Prof. Serefnur Ozturk.
The final result of the EBN exam was, that 16 candidates passed the examination and were conferred the title “Fellow of the European Board of Neurology”.
This fourth EBN has shown a continuous growth of candidates and newly introduced items as the implementation of a scientific method for determining the passing limit and an increase of the case vignettes were established. From 2013 on the oral examination will be replaced by EMQ (extending matching questions) which will allow an even better assessment and also the ”free presentations” will cease to be voluntary, and become part of the exam.

The UEMS EBN exam has been limited to persons from UEMS member countries, Canada, USA and Turkey but from next year it will be open worldwide. Successful candidates from the UEMS member countries will be conferred the title “Fellow of the European Board of Neurology” and those from other, non EU countries will receive a diploma for the examination.

We are convinced that the UEMS EBN examination develops well in the right direction and will increase its quality even more with the implementation of these changes. For information please look at the UEMS EBN website www.uems-neuroboard.org, or contact the secretariate: UEMS Section of Neurology – European Board of Neurology, c/o Vienna Medical Academy, Alser Strasse 4, 1090 Vienna, AUSTRIA, T: +43 1 405 13 83 – 32, F: +43 1 407 82 74, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.