Everything to Know About the New PAEA Surgery EOR Blueprint in 2024

Early mornings. Long days. Back pain from holding a retractor for hours. Your preceptor pimping you on topics you aren’t prepared to answer. No, seriously. I was once pimped on geography after spending hours reviewing the ins and outs of a parathyroidectomy. 

There’s a lot that you can’t fully prepare for during your general surgery rotation, but fortunately, the end-of-rotation (EOR) exam is one of the things that you can prepare for. Beginning fall 2024, PAEA’s Surgery EOR examination is getting a makeover. If you’re a PA student taking the exam sometime this year and beyond, here’s what you need to know about these changes.

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What are the PAEA Surgery EOR blueprint and topic lists?

A lot like the NCCPA PANCE blueprint, the PAEA EOR content blueprints provide a breakdown of how many of the 100 scored exam questions you can expect across each medical topic (e.g., gastrointestinal, cardiology) and task area (e.g., history & physical, diagnostic studies). The PAEA has a blueprint and topic list for every core rotation specialty.

The Surgery EOR blueprint provides a detailed overview of specific topics a student can anticipate seeing on the exam. The PAEA notes the topic list and blueprint used by their experts to create the exam can also be used by students to study for it. 

As a disclaimer, they note the exams may not reflect all the topics included in the topic list, the topic list may not be comprehensive of every topic seen on the exam, and the topic list and exam may not be fully representative of every student’s clinical experience.

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Why is the PAEA Surgery EOR blueprint and topic list being changed? 

You can read more about the PAEA’s decision to update the Surgery EOR blueprint here. The decision to change the Surgery EOR blueprint from “General Surgery” to “Surgery” appears to be made based on changes to ARC-PA’s accreditation standards pertaining to surgery clinical rotations (B3.07), along with a review of the literature and PANCE blueprint, and discussions with PA program directors.

The new topic list and blueprint better represent the current surgical rotation experience of PA students.

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What changes have been made to the PAEA Surgery EOR blueprint and topic list? 

It’s important to note that the current General Surgery EOR blueprint and topic list remains in circulation, but it will formally be retired in December 2025. Beginning in Fall 2024, the new Surgery EOR blueprint and topic list will be formally published with the exam available for scheduling by program faculty. 

Depending on your PA program, your faculty may decide to immediately switch to the new exam or they may continue using the General Surgery EOR exam until the current clinical cohort is finished, or the exam is phased out entirely at the end of 2025. Pretest items for the Surgery EOR exam (i.e., unscored, experimental questions) have been in use on General Surgery EOR examinations since January 2024.

The major changes highlighted by the PAEA include major adjustments to the allotment of questions across exam topics. Notably, gastrointestinal topics have been reduced from 50% to 17%, and preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative were added as designated settings. 

New content areas such as pain medicine, breast surgery, and trauma were added, and task area changes include the addition of professional practice and the removal of health maintenance. OBGYN was also removed from the topic list, though it was never included as a topic area in the original blueprint. 

Let’s review allotment adjustments in greater detail below.

Allotment Adjustments

Content Adjustments

Given that the distribution of questions on the Surgery EOR exam has changed significantly, so have the topic lists. Students will see that topic lists pertaining to the sections of hematology, OBGYN, and preoperative/postoperative care have been removed. The new sections for breast surgery, trauma/acute care, and pain medicine/anesthesia have been added. There are also topics that have been newly added (or removed) from preexisting topic areas.

One of the greatest changes on the Surgery EOR exam is the new subsections. Students will now find that in addition to a list of “diagnoses” under each topic area, there is now a subsection for “perioperative risk assessment and complications” related to the topic area and “procedures.” 

While no topic list is provided for the professional practice task area, it should be noted the PAEA provided obtaining informed consent prior to a surgical procedure as an example.

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How can I use the Surgery EOR blueprint to study?

First, if you’re testing after September 2024 but before December 2025, touch base with your PA program faculty to determine which topic list (the old General Surgery EOR or the new Surgery EOR) you should use to prepare.

From there, use the PAEA topic list as a “to-do list” to work on over the course of your clinical rotation. Prioritize topics you need time to thoroughly review and pay attention to which topic areas are represented more on the exam. 

If you’re on a rotation like surgery, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with studying when you feel like you don’t have a lot of time outside of the rotation. Take a look at your topic list each night after your rotation and see if there’s anything you can check off based on the patients you saw, surgeries you scrubbed in on, or discussions you had on rounds.

Sometimes we forget that looking up topics for our preceptor or discussing a condition in the OR also counts as preparing for your Surgery EOR too. Just remember the textbook answer is the answer the exam is looking for! 

Looking for more resources to help with your EOR study plan? Check out your options from Blueprint PA (formerly Rosh Review)!

🗓️ FREE PA Study Planner
📈 Rotation Exam Qbank Bundle (test out our FREE trial!)
👩‍💻 End of Rotation Tutoring (schedule your FREE consultation!)

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When will the Rosh/Blueprint Surgery EOR Qbank update with questions that align with the new blueprint?

Our team of PA authors and content editors have been hard at work updating our Surgery Mock Rotation Exam and Qbank to reflect the new blueprint and topic list.

Our surgery Mock Rotation Exam (Version #3) launched in July with these updates, and our Qbank will be available in September! But don’t worry! If your program is still using the old General Surgery EOR exam, we’ll have our original versions of these products available until December 2025.

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Whether you’re taking the old General Surgery EOR exam or the new Surgery EOR exam, we’re here to help! 

During PA clinical rotations, it can feel like everything is a blur. It’s normal to feel like you don’t have time to get everything done, much less think ahead to your EOR exam!

But we’re here to help you stay sane and prepare. Keep these changes to the PAEA Surgery EOR exam in mind as you prepare, and you’ll be way ahead of the game. And whether you’re taking the old General Surgery EOR exam or the new Surgery EOR exam, we’re here to help every step of the way! 

Good luck, and be sure to reach out if you have any questions!

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