Section A: Examining bodies

11. (a) The Council plenum shall appoint a Supreme Examinations Committee.

(b) The chairman of the Committee will be one of the deputy chairmen of the Council.

Specialization committees

11a. (a) The Executive Committee of the Council shall appoint the following two specialization committees:

A committee for medical and laboratory fields;

A committee for surgical fields.

(b) The Executive Committee of the Council shall appoint the chairmen of the specialization committees.

(c) Members of the specialization committees shall be specialists who head a hospital department in their field and hold at least the position of senior lecturer in an Israeli medical school.

Examination committees

12. (a) For each field specified in the Appendix, the Executive Committee of the Council shall appoint, after consulting with the scientific association of the subject being tested, members of the examination committees, and shall supervise the testing in accordance with the residency program.

(b). The examination committees shall be subject to the professional decisions of the Supreme Examinations Committee.

The Supreme Examinations Committee shall appoint the chairmen of the examinations committees.

Members of the examinations committees shall be specialists, and at least three of them, including the chairman, shall be specialists in the field that is the subject of the examination.

There shall be no fewer than five members in an examination committee, including the chairman.

The tenure of a member of the examinations committee shall be the same as that of the Council’s term of office.

At the end of one term, at least half the members of the examinations committee shall be replaced by new members; no member shall serve for more than two terms.

Should the place of one member of the examinations committee be vacated, the Executive Committee of the Council shall appoint a replacement who shall serve until the end of the term of the member whose place was vacated.

Activities of the specialization committees

13. Within the context of the activities stated in regulation 12, the specialization committees shall be responsible for implementing examinations in the following fields:

The committee for medical fields-internal medicine, cardiology, hematology, clinical immunology and allergology, pulmonary diseases, gastroenterology, endocrinology, nephrology, pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, dermatology, diagnostic radiology, oncology, nuclear medicine, family medicine, public health, pathological anatomy, forensic medicine, physical and rehabilitative medicine, neonatology, medical administration, medical genetics, rheumatology, infectious diseases, occupational medicine, clinical microbiology, clinical biochemistry, geriatrics, pediatric neurology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric pulmonology, pediatric immunology and allergology, pediatric hemato-oncology, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric nephrology, pediatric endocrinology, clinical pharmacology.

The committee for surgical fields-general surgery, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, urology, ear, nose and throat diseases, ophthalmology, anesthesia, obstetrics and gynecology, vascular surgery, surgery of the hand, general intensive care, pediatric surgery, pediatric intensive care, emergency medicine.

Meetings and decisions of the specialization committees

14. (a) Half the members of the specialization committees shall constitute a legal quorum for meetings .

In the event of a tie, the vote of the committee chairman shall be decisive.

Fundamental decisions of the Supreme Examinations Committee shall be discussed and approved by the Executive Committee of the Council.

15. (cancelled)

Section B: Examination procedures

Form of the examination

(a) Examinations shall be oral and written, and may include practical medical work.

(b) Examinations shall be conducted in the Hebrew language.

Stages of the examinations

(a) The examinations shall be held in two stages: Stage 1 and Stage 2.

(b) A resident may sit for the Stage 1 examination any time after completing half of the residency period, subject to the provisions of regulation 24(b).

A resident who passed Stage 1 examinations may sit for Stage 2 examinations, subject to the provisions of regulation 21.

Stage 1: examination

(a) The Stage 1 examination shall primarily test theoretical knowledge.  It will deal with patho-physiological processes that are the basis for illnesses, and with their attendant clinical problems, including diagnostic and treatment methods.

Stage 1 examinations may be in two or more parts, pursuant to the decision of the Supreme Examinations Committee.

Stage 2: examination

(a) The Stage 2 examination shall deal primarily with actual cases in the field of specialization, about which the resident will be asked to apply his knowledge vis a vis diagnosis, treatment and expert consultation in his field.

(b) In the sub-specialties, a final written and oral examination will be held at the end of the residency, unless the Supreme Examinations Committee, with the approval of the Executive Committee of the Council, has decided otherwise.

(c) In a sub-specialty that may be combined with residency in the main specialty, as discussed in section 6 (c1), the resident must pass stage 1 and stage 2 examination in the main specialty, as a condition for eligibility to be tested in the final examination of the sub-specialty.

Dates of examinations

Examinations shall be held at least once a year, according to the decision of the Supreme Examinations Committee; 30 days prior to the date of the examination, the Committee shall send a notice of the time and place of the examination in a given field to each resident asking to be tested in that field.

Participation in examinations

(a) (1) If the Supreme Examinations Committee sets dates in the spring and fall of a given year for Stage 2 examinations, a resident may take the examination in the spring or fall of his or her last year of residency; passing the examination does not shorten the period of residency stipulated in the regulations.

(2) One who wishes to be examined in the spring or fall shall submit a request to the Council’s Supreme Examinations Committee, on a form available at the offices of the Council, no later than the date set by the Supreme Examinations Committee as the last date on which requests to be tested at that time may be submitted.

(b) The Council, or a committee appointed by it for that purpose, shall check the eligibility of a resident to be examined, and shall notify the resident of its decision.

(c)A resident may retract his or her decision to be examined by notifying the examination committee no later than 30 days prior to the date of the examination.

(d) Failure to be tested without prior notice as specified in sub-section (c) shall be considered as a failure unless the resident can prove to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee and at the earliest possible opportunity under the circumstances, that there was a legitimate reason for his or her non-participation.

Examination grades

(a) The grades for examinations or any part thereof shall be given as “pass” or “fail.”

The Supreme Examinations Committee shall confirm the results of the Stage 1 examination.

The examinations committees shall note the results of Stage 2 exams; each part shall be graded separately.

If there is a difference of opinion among the members of the examination committee in a Stage 2 examination, they may each recommend different grades.

Approval and announcement of examination results

(a) The examinations committee shall give the specialization committee a report regarding the results of each examination; the specialization committee shall forward this report, along with its recommendations and comments, to the chairman of the Supreme Examinations Committee for his approval.

(b) After the results of the examination have been approved, the Council shall notify each examinee of his or her examination results.

Repeat examination

24. (a) A resident who failed an examination, or any part thereof, if the examination was in two or more parts, is entitled to be re-tested at a later date, provided that s/he repeats all parts of the examination.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), a resident who has not passed the examination within 4 years of finishing his or her period of residency, whether s/he has failed or not taken the examination at all, shall not be eligible to take the examination unless s/he shall be given special permission by the Council, and under the conditions it determines. A resident who fails the stage 2 examination the first time is eligible to repeat the examination after six months; one who fails an additional time may not repeat the examination until one year after the date on which s/he failed.

Confidentiality of the examination

Matters pertaining to the examination are confidential and one who performs any function relating to them shall not reveal anything about them unless legally obligated or allowed to do so by law.