Certification
The American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) is the AVMA-recognized veterinary specialty organization™ for certification of veterinarians in large animal surgery and small animal surgery. AVMA is the American Veterinary Medical Association.
CERT – Certification Record Tracker
Welcome to CERT, ACVS’s certification record tracker!
Log into cert.acvs.org
Maintenance of certification record tracking is now available through CERT, in addition to the resident training log. CERT will be the home of all certification record tracking including examination registration, credentials application and program registration application. ACVS strongly encourages system users to request help by submitting a support ticket. As with any new system, bugs have been identified and ACVS certification staff are working with system developers to resolve these items.
Maintenance of Certification
MOC record tracking in CERT combines legacy features and enhancements in response to user feedback. As part of this change, the Maintenance of Certification Committee with the approval of the Board of Regents, has developed a more transparent point system for continuing education (CE) activities, established points for postgraduate degree activities, and changed to annual recording of additional specialty training. These changes are included in the revised Approved Activities List. Additionally, please use the videos below to help guide you through these changes.
Quick Tips
- “Logged” indicates the Diplomate self-reported the activity and the required information is complete.
- “ACVS recorded” indicates ACVS certification staff added the activity on the Diplomate’s behalf and the required information is complete.
- Diplomates do not need to re-upload completion documents for imported activities. ACVS has all previously submitted documents on file.
- Answers to additional common questions about maintenance can be found on the MOC Frequently Asked Questions page.
ACVS CERT – Introducing MOC in CERT (March 2023)
- Recorded webinar introducing the new functionality and features of maintenance of certification records in CERT – the ACVS Certification Record Tracker.
- How to add a presentation activity or postgraduate degree activity.
Adding a RACE Approved Continuing Education Activity
- Diplomate-level continuing education activities approved by the American Association of Veterinary State Boards Registry of Approved Continuing Education (AAVSB RACE) can be recorded for points equal to the number of RACE CE hours specified on the completion certificate.
Adding a Non-RACE Approved Continuing Education Activity
- Diplomate-level non-AAVSB RACE-approved continuing education activities can be recorded for points equal to the number of hours of educational content. NOTE: Social hours, e.g., receptions, are not counted as educational content.
- Non-AAVSB RACE-approved continuing education activities must be education-focused, have clear learning objectives, have specialist or expert speakers, and provide a completion certificate to the Diplomate. Supporting documentation required.
Submitting an Additional Activity Request
- Diplomates can now submit requests for evaluation of additional activity online in their MOC record.
Resident Training Log
All training requirements are logged in the Resident Training Log section of CERT. Please use the videos below and information on the Frequently Asked Questions page to help guide you through the system.
What Has Changed
Activity Weeks:
- Activity week dropdowns are now structured as dependent lists and will automatically adjust as rotation type, location, and supervisor are selected by the resident.
- Residents can now log activities in combination with recording activity weeks. Cases, educational events, specialty training, and seminars are just a click away.
- Resident advisors can now review a week and associated activities together.
Cases:
- Residents can categorize cases faster and more accurately. Procedure names and core curriculum categories will automatically adjust as the resident types.
- All users can easily access and track a resident’s progress towards both total and directly supervised case requirements with the reimagined core curriculum summary page.
- Cases cannot be bulk imported or exported from the new system.
- CERT is responsive to allow case and other activity entry on mobile devices.
Specialty Rotations:
- Specialty rotations completed as weeks will be entered as activity weeks and do not need to be recorded as separate rotations, too. The weeks will show in both the Activity Weeks and Specialty Services areas to help residents keep track.
- Specialty training completed as hours will be added only to the Specialty Services section.
- Supervisors for specialty rotations will see training from all residents in one convenient landing page.
Log Review by Resident Advisor:
- When viewing a resident’s logs you will see a header alert for items pending review.
- Resident advisors can now also review a week and associated activities together.
External Rotations/Cases:
- Cases supervised by ACVS Diplomates not associated with the primary residency location(s) are now approved within CERT. Similar to specialty rotations, residents need only add the supervisor’s name, location, and email address. External surgical activity week entries are reviewed by your resident advisor.
- External supervisors will have consolidated pages to review training from all residents.
Semi-Annual Reviews:
- The system is not contingent on semi-annual reviews to push training to the committee review status.
- Semi-annual reviews are still required for each six months of training.
