SURGICAL CRITICAL CARE - Exam Blueprint for the Surgical Critical Care Certifying Examination (SCC CE)

Oct 4, 2026

The Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care Board of the American Board of Surgery updated the exam blueprint for the Surgical Critical Care Certifying Examination to better align questions with the training and practice of Surgical Critical Care (SCC) diplomates. The revision reorganizes tested content, defines patient-care dimensions such as risk assessment, diagnosis/work-up, perioperative management, and outcomes, and assigns weights that approximate each category’s question representation. Stakeholder feedback informed both content coverage and weighting, including guidance for special populations and confounding conditions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Content Distribution

Content Categories

Dimensions of Patient Care

TABLE 1 - CONTENT CATEGORIES

TABLE 2 - DIMENSIONS OF PATIENT CARE

SURGICAL CRITICAL CARE EXAM BLUEPRINT FOR THE SURGICAL CRITICAL CARE CERTIFYING EXAMINATION (SCC CE) The Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care Board (TBSCCB) of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) recently reviewed and revised the exam blueprint used for the Surgical Critical Care Certifying Exam (SCC CE), so that the exam better reflects the training and practice of surgical critical care (SCC) diplomates. The revision process involved updating and reorganizing the content tested on the exam, specifying the dimensions of patient care tested on the exam (e.g., risk factors, diagnosis/work-up, perioperative care management, outcomes), and determining weights that dictate how these content categories and dimensions of patient care are represented on the exam. As part of the review, multiple stakeholders were consulted (e.g., TBSCCB Directors, SCC program directors, current SCC diplomates), and feedback from these groups was used to inform the content and weights. Content Distribution Tables 1 and 2 include the major content categories and dimensions of patient care in the blueprint. Weights are also provided for each. Concretely, the weights indicate the approximate percentage of questions to be included on the SCC CE; actual percentages may vary slightly from year to year. Content Categories Table 1 includes the major content categories for the exam. Dimensions of Patient Care Table 2 includes dimensions of care that will be tested on the exam. Exam questions will address both a topic from the content categories and a dimension of care (e.g., perioperative care for a specific typeof shock) . The weights included here represent the percentage of questions that will be devoted to each dimension of care. Additionally, exam content may also address special populations or confounding conditions; these will also be represented on the exam according to the weights listed. TABLE 1 – CONTENT CATEGORIES | Content Category | Weight | | --- | --- | | 1. Initial Resuscitation | 7.0% | | 2. Cardiovascular Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Therapy | 9.0% | | 3. Respiratory Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Therapy | 10.0% | | 4. Fluid and Electrolyte Pathophysiology and Therapy | 6.0% | | 5. Neurological Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Therapy | 6.0% | | 6. Metabolic, Endocrinologic, and Nutritional Effects of Surgical Illness | 6.0% | | 7. Infectious Disease, Pathophysiology, and Therapy | 8.0% | | 8. Hematologic Disorders Secondary to Acute Illness/Blood Transfusion | 4.0% | | 9. Acute Gastrointestinal, Genitourinary, and Obstetric-Gynecologic Disorders | 10.0% | | 10. Trauma | 10.0% | | 11. Thermal Injury | 5.0% | | 12. Life-Threatening Pediatric Conditions | 3.0% | | 13. Immunology, Transplantation, and Cell Biology | 3.0% | | 14. Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, and Drug Metabolism in Critical Illness | 2.0% | | 15. Monitoring, Bioengineering, and Biostatistics | 6.0% | | 16. Principles and Techniques of Administration and Management | 3.0% | | 17. Ethical and Legal Aspects in Surgical Critical Care Medicine | 2.0% | TABLE 2 – DIMENSIONS OF PATIENT CARE | Dimensions of Care | Weight | | --- | --- | | 1. General* | 10% | | 2. Epidemiology (incidence, common causes) | 5% | | 3. Pathophysiology/Basic Science | 8% | | 4. Risk Assessment (risk factors) | 5% | | 5. Diagnosis/Work-up (imaging, lab testing, clinical exam) | 11% | | 6. Monitoring | 11% | | 7. Treatments | 11% | | 8. Indications for Surgery | 9% | | 9. Perioperative Care (Pre-, Intra-, Post-) | 10% | | 10. Complications (common complications) | 11% | | 11. Outcomes (mortality, long term sequela) | 9% | | Special Populations & Confounding Conditions** | 2% | | 1. Special Populations: Pregnancy | 0.5% | | 2. Special Populations: Elderly | 0.5% | | 3. Special Populations: Pediatric | 0.5% | | 4. Confounding conditions (e.g., obesity, cirrhosis, immunosuppressed, chronic renal failure, COPD) | 0.5% | *General is for topics that do not otherwise fit into t

FAQs

What is the purpose of the revised SCC CE exam blueprint?

To ensure the SCC CE better reflects the training and practice of Surgical Critical Care diplomates by updating and reorganizing tested content and its representation on the exam.

How are content categories and patient-care dimensions used in the SCC CE questions?

Exam questions address one topic from the content categories and one dimension of care, such as diagnosis/work-up or perioperative care management.

What do the weights in the blueprint represent?

Weights indicate the approximate percentage of questions allocated to each content category and each dimension of patient care, with small year-to-year variation possible.

Oct 4, 2026

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