LAUSR

TO THE EDITOR: I read Weinberger's commentary (1) with great interest. Physicians should be up to date in their practice of medicine, and their patients have every right to expect that. Board certification should signify that physicians are prepared for what they will encounter on a day-to-day basis. We were trained not to look for zebras when we hear hoofbeats. However, test writers on board and certification examinations so often seem more concerned with zebras than the bread-and-butter practice of medicine. I used to joke that I had seen 3 cases of tularemia over my many years in practice: on the internal medicine boards, on the pulmonary boards, and the first time I took the critical care certification. Tularemia thankfully did not appear on my second and third critical care recertifications (and if it did, I missed it).