Medical specialty certification in the United States is a voluntary process which serves multiple purposes for the trainee and the public.

Certification is:

• one mission of the training program to produce trainees who meet board eligibility criteria;
• distinguishes a physician as someone with a distinct level of expertise;
• provides more opportunities when applying for employment;
• presents resources and tools by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS);
• a commitment to life-long improvement for providing the best patient care; and
• elevates physicians into the ranks of doctors committed to the highest standards of healthcare.

For more information, visit the American Board of Medical Specialties site.

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) is a private, not-for-profit corporation established in 1952 to provide a uniform date of appointment to positions in graduate medical education (GME).

The NRMP is not an application processing service; rather, it provides an impartial venue for matching applicants' and programs' preferences for each other in consistent way.

For more information about this service, visit the NRMP website.

Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is part of the University of Iowa Libraries with many resources for students and trainees in the health sciences. All resident and fellow physicians have access to the UI Hardin Medical Library through the library’s world-wide-web page or through MedHub, our resident tracking database. The library features e-resources that include on-line journals, periodicals, databases, special medical guides and a variety of search and retrieval systems including PubMed.

VisualDx is also available through the Hardin Library and gives general practitioners the ability to build a differential diagnosis that provides specialist information for more than 900 diseases and offers more than 16,000 related images.

The library includes the John Martin Rare Book Room, a 5,000-volume collection of original works representing classic contributions to the history of the health sciences from the 15th through 20th Centuries. Also included are selected books, reprints, and journals dealing with the history of medicine at the University of Iowa and in the State of Iowa.

UI Hardin Library has specially trained librarians who assist with location of materials and train house staff on effective methods of information searches (e.g., effective methods of searching PubMed).

MedHub is a web-based application designed to house, document, track, and monitor program requirements and educational experiences. MedHub's reporting function assists in the monitoring of individuals, groups, programs, and outcomes related to Graduate Medical Education. It combines experiences, milestones, and artifacts with the portfolio function and facilitates collaborative communications. MedHub is used by all those invested in Graduate Medical Education at the University of Iowa.

University of Iowa academic departments have published audio lectures and procedure videos as podcasts, accessible across multiple podcasting platforms.

Some of these podcasts include:

• Rounding@Iowa: Rounding@IOWA is an interprofessional continuing education podcast created by and for the health care team. Join Dr. Gerry Clancy from University of Iowa Health Care as he and his guests explore emerging topics in health care.
• The Short Coat Podcast: Is medical school your dream?  Good!  But remember: the journey is uncertain, expensive, and bumpy. Luckily, The Short Coat Podcast comes to you each and every week, is totally free, and most important: our student co-hosts tell you what it’s really like, from the first year to the last, and beyond.