What are ABEM's Mission and Purposes?

What is ABEM? 

The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) is one of 24 medical specialty certification boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. ABEM board certifies emergency physicians who meet its educational, professional standing, and examination standards. ABEM certification is sought and earned by emergency physicians on a voluntary basis; ABEM is not a membership association. 

ABEM Mission

The ABEM mission is to ensure the highest standards in the specialty of Emergency Medicine. 

ABEM Purposes

ABEM’s purposes are:

• To improve the quality of emergency medical care
• To establish and maintain high standards of excellence in Emergency Medicine and subspecialties
• To enhance medical education in the specialty of Emergency Medicine and related subspecialties
• To evaluate physicians and promote professional development through initial and continuous certification in Emergency Medicine and its subspecialties
• To certify physicians who have demonstrated special knowledge and skills in Emergency Medicine and its subspecialties
• To enhance the value of certification for ABEM diplomates
• To serve the public and medical profession by reporting the certification status of the diplomates of the American Board of Emergency Medicine

In-training Examination Overview

Like some other American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member boards, ABEM develops and administers an InTraining Examination. It is offered annually on the last Wednesday in February to all ACGME-accredited and RCPSC-accredited Emergency Medicine residency programs for a small fee. Programs are not required to participate in this In Service examination

The ABEM inservice examination targets the expected knowledge base and experience of an EM3 resident. Unlike other ABEM examinations, the in-training examination does not have a passing score. It is a standardized examination that residents and program faculty can use to judge an individual resident’s progress toward successful ABEM certification. There is a strong relationship between in-training and qualifying examination scores. Physicians with higher in-training scores have a higher likelihood of passing the qualifying examination and those with lower scores have a lower likelihood of passing the qualifying examination.


The examination is not designed for program evaluation, and the results should not be used to compare programs or residents across programs.