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Allied Health: Articles of Interest Preparing for asthma educator certification The National Asthma Educator Certification Board (NAECB) made the certification examination available to asthma educators across the country in September 2002. Since that time, 1,063 people have taken the exam. Of those taking the exam, including first time test takers and repeat, 767 have passed, for a pass rate of 73%. The success of the certification course is apparent by the large numbers of people already certified, as well as the large interest in review courses. The Association of Asthma Educators, www.asthmaeducators.org, recently held a review course in Philadelphia, PA, and had over 100 participants. The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), www.aarc.org, also offers review courses with high levels of interest. In addition, there are other local and state groups offering review courses for the NAECB examination. When looking for a review course to help you prepare to take the NAECB exam, applicants should ask several questions about the course:
It is important to distinguish between preparatory courses and review courses. A review course is designed to help the applicant prepare for the exam, not to learn how to be an asthma educator. Preparatory courses are for teaching individuals to become an asthma educator. If you are taking a review course you should already have a good understanding of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program’s (NAEPP) 1997 guidelines as well as the 2003 updates. You should also have reviewed the examination matrix available on the NAECB Web site, www.naecb.org, and identified your weaknesses for further study. It is important to remember that the exam tests areas of knowledge identified during a job analysis, as performed by the NAECB prior to the development of the exam matrix. Core competencies were identified and then exam questions were written to test those competencies. Review of data from the first year of the examination showed that repeat exam takers had only a 53% success rate. One theory is that the individuals took the exam too soon after failing on their first try. Rather than rushing back to repeat the exam, it is better to study the exam matrix again, review your areas of weakness and if possible, take a review course. Some national exams require individuals who fail an exam to wait up to six months before taking the exam again. Preparation is the key to this exam, and there are multiple resources available to exam applicants. More information regarding the examination and review courses is available from the NAECB, www.naecb.org, and other professional organizations. |
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