Ardane Medical

05/11/2026

What is a Board-Certified physician?

Most of us know that when an attorney graduates from Law School, they must pass the Bar Exam in the state they wish to practice. Once they pass it, they never have to take it again. Nor do they have to prove they’ve been keeping up with changes in the law, precedents, or recent court decisions.

When a physician graduates from Med School and then completes their years in Residency, they are a doctor. There isn’t a “Bar Exam” for physicians. But they do have “The Boards.”

So, what are The Boards?

The Boards are a 10-hour exam that tests knowledge across all specialties. For example, dermatologists will be tested on dermatology as well as their knowledge of nephrology, pulmonologists will be tested on oncology, etc. They usually involve 6 months to a year of studying. If you want to make sure you pass, you can include educational seminars usually held in hotels around the country. Dr Sandra attended a 5-day, 12 hour per day seminar in Denver for her last exam.

The Boards are optional for all physicians. You can be a physician, but if you pass this test, you can say you are a Board-Certified Physician. Most hospital and health care systems require Board Certification to remain employed by them. Some doctors are Board Certified eligible, which means that they have all the training and education needed to sit for the Boards but haven’t opted to do so.

The Boards are good for 10 years. The intent of adding the Board-Certified accreditation to your resume is that it proves that you have been keeping up the improvements, breakthroughs, and protocols of everything involving being a doctor. Medicine is changing daily with research and advancements; this exam brings confidence to the patient that their doctor is treating them with the most recent changes.

There is some dissention recently where doctors have voiced that those who run the Boards have lost their good intentions and have turned it into a profit driven business. Currently there is talk of altering the process but nothing is set in stone yet. There is an alternative way to be Board Certified but requires the completion of different modules/tests a four times per year, every year

Dr. Sandra is currently Board-Certified Internal Medicine. She’s taken the Boards in 2007 & 2017, and has begun studying for 2027. Although she now has her own practice and two kids, so it might be even harder this time around.

05/01/2026

GLP-1s
In the first comment below is a link to a great, common language article on the current state of GLP-1s, aka Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, and Victoza.

The Ugly: “DEXA scans showed that lean body mass (muscle and bone) accounted for nearly 40% of the weight lost.” Stated another way – 4 out of every 10 pounds lost is body mass that you really want. Osteoporotic risk increases have always been a concern which is why regular and increased exercise is highly recommended when prescribing GLP-1s. I would recommended that those who need these aggressive treatments combine them with a weight lifting regimen and a good, healthy, variety diet . It is also recommended that you monitor essential vitamins that can be depleted when your body goes through the stress of losing 20-30 pounds in a short period of time.

The Good: Attacking obesity and diabetes is a great thing and GLP-1s seem to be helping significantly. The diabetic and obesity epidemic are killing people right now, waiting around to get a full understanding of the long-term risks of GLP-1s may not be an option. To give a completely fictional analogy – if we find out that tanning beds cure terminal Stage 4 cancer, we would use them despite the risk of developing skin cancer years from now. Also, it is worth mentioning that GLP1s are been proven to successfully treat and at times reverse steatosis hepatitis or MASH in patients with this advanced stage of what we commonly know as 'fatty liver".

The Bad: Trials are showing that when the use of GLP-1s stops, patients are regaining two-thirds of the weight lost, indicating that maintaining the benefits requires life-long usage and/or healthy ongoing lifestyle changes.

Short answer: We don’t know everything yet, and anybody that tells you different is predicting, not drawing conclusions from data. If Toyota comes out with a new car model, the only way to truly know if the car will be dependable for the next ten years is to have people drive it for the next ten years and study the data. GLP-1s are in the middle of the 10-year test drive and science is still gathering the data.

NOTE: Comments for this post have been turned off. Social media has proven itself to be an awful forum for intelligent debate. We’d prefer to skip all the problems it brings.

04/11/2026

The Journal - Upstate Today
Saturday, April 11, 2026

11/10/2025

10/29/2025

Another story about DPC.
This story is about an NP run practice. As you know, Dr Sandra is Board Certified Internal Medicine as well as Primary Care.

With direct primary care, patients pay a regular fee in exchange for unlimited access to certain medical services, while cutting out insurance as a middleman...

08/05/2025

Please avoid raw milk. Pasteurization is good.

Raw milk from a Florida farm causes an E. coli and Campylobacter outbreak affecting 21 people, including six children, with seven requiring hospitalization, state health officials say.

07/03/2025

The Journal - Seneca 7/2/2025
"Usually within eight hours, all that expensive therapy (is) peed out"

06/20/2025

Want to know about events in Seneca and keep updated about cancellations/changes?

The city set up a texting service - one for all events and one just for Jazz on the Alley.

No personal information is sold or distributed.

05/30/2025

Dr. Eric Topol’s research revealed it’s not so much genes that lead to long life but instead simple and practical steps to stay healthy. He’s taking his own advice.

02/14/2025

Ardane Medical in today's The Journal (Upstate Today)

View the The Journal for Friday, February 14, 2025