Chicago, IL, October 31, 2023: The American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) has updated its guidelines for Integrated Training Experiences (ITEs), supporting training programs and physicians who plan to seek certification by both ABPM and another ABMS member board via the ITE pathway.

ITEs are dual-training programs that allow an individual resident or fellow to complete training in two residencies, two fellowships, or a residency and fellowship simultaneously. While ITEs do not truncate or reduce training time in an ABPM specialty or subspecialty, the ITE prepares a physician to sit for the initial certification exam in both the specialty and/or subspecialty areas for which the ITE was designed.

At its August 2023 Board of Directors meeting, ABPM updated its guidelines to specify that training programs must submit ITE proposals to ABPM at least 60 days prior to the date the physician plans to begin the ABPM-sponsored training. To ensure that a physician who enters an ITE will receive the training required to be eligible for ABPM certification exams, ABPM cannot review an ITE program if the physician has already started the ABPM-sponsored training. In addition, block diagrams submitted as part of the proposal must be in a format that is materially consistent with the ACGME sample block diagram that is current at the time of submission of the proposed ITE. These updates allow ABPM to review programs thoroughly before a physician begins training.

“ABPM is proud to support physicians who plan to become dual-certified by offering ITEs as a training option for individual physicians,” said Wendy E. Braund, MD, MPH, MSEd, FACPM. “The guidelines allow ABPM to ensure that ITEs provide the training and knowledge necessary for dual-certified physicians – not only to pass the certification exam, but also to successfully practice their preventive medicine specialty or subspecialty.”

Preventive medicine residency and fellowship programs may find additional information about both ITEs and combined training programs, including guidelines and application forms, on the ABPM website at https://www.theabpm.org/become-certified/integrated-training-experiences-and-combined-training-programs/.

The ABPM is an ABMS Member Board. Founded in 1948, ABPM works with the ABMS in the development of standards for the ongoing assessment and certification of over 12,000 physicians certified by the ABPM in the specialties of Aerospace Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and Public Health and General Preventive Medicine; and in the subspecialties of Addiction Medicine, Clinical Informatics, Medical Toxicology, and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine.