Preparing for the Ostomy Management Specialist board certification exam is no easy task. I know how stressful and nerve-racking it can be not knowing if you are going to pass. The truth is that even really skilled clinicians can have difficulties and not test well. I’ve had many nurses reach out to me that had 20+ years of experience working with ostomy patients but when it came time to take the test, they didn’t pass. Now this doesn’t mean that they are not good at what they do. There are a lot of factors that come in to play on how we actually perform on game day. What no one tells you though is that if you are preparing by yourself, no amount of studying will give you feedback on your areas of strength and weakness and if you are truly ready to sit for the exam. To really test yourself and get that feedback, you need to take a practice test of the same length and under similar conditions and see how you do.
I remember when I was preparing for the board exam, I searched endlessly for a practice test. It’s what I did when preparing for other certifications and it served me well. To my surprise, there was not a single ostomy management practice test available. This was frustrating as I knew that taking a practice test would not only help with my confidence, it would help guide my studies and give me feedback on when I was ready to sit for the board exam. And I knew I couldn’t be the only one in the country that felt this way. So, instead of waiting for someone else to create one, I decided to look in the mirror and do it myself. Let me tell you, not as easy as you might think. I knew it was going to take a long time to do it well, but that wasn’t going to stop me from getting it done. I didn’t want anyone else to have to go into the exam like me, doubting and wondering whether they were ready and questioning if they truly did everything possible to prepare for the exam. Before making the practice test, I spent thousands of hours reading multiple books on ostomy management, cover to cover, delving into research and of course collaborating with my nurse planner who is an RN and lives with an ileostomy! This, combined with my 14 years of clinical experience as an occupational therapist, I made the first and only ostomy management specialist practice test in the country.
The test is comprised of 100 questions and covers all the key areas that you need to know in order to be successful in passing your exam. After you finish, you will immediately receive your score along with an explanation of the answers. While we can not guarantee that a passing score on this practice test will translate to a passing score on the board certification exam, we are confident that the questions will help you identify your strengths and potential weaknesses so you can focus your studies and better prepare. Good luck and we wish you the best!
Jeffrey Despommier, OTR, OMS, CUA, ATP