Recertifying in the Art of Medicine: What I Would Tell Young Physicians

Abstract

All specialty boards in medicine now give time-limited certificates of qualification to physicians who pass the examination and have graduated in the past 10 years or so, requiring physicians to recertify by passing one or more written examinations if they want to maintain certification in their specialty. At one time board certification, which is not mandatory and thus far has not had a great role in the ability of a physician to compete with his peers who were not certified, was viewed by the physician as an honor, a recognition of his knowledge. However, this is changing because most professional societies, academic medical centers, many nonacademic medical centers, and even pri­ vate multigroup practices require physicians to be certified. Board certification is a testing of physicians' knowledge of the science of their specialty and their understanding of ethical issues in medicine. Competency in ethics, however, is not the same as competence in the practice of the art of medicine. How can a physician's qualities in his interac­ tions with coworkers, the patient, and the patient's family be assessed on a written examination? They can't. Such an assessment must be done by the patient. There is an awareness on the part of the public that the practice of the art of medicine is becoming a lost art,? It has been superceded by advances in technology and pharmaco­ therapeutics. Dr William J. May03 said, One meets with many men who stood high in their classes, who have great knowledge of medicine but very little wisdom in applica­ tion. They have mastered the science and have failed in the understanding of the human being. A recent Gallup sur­ vey of the public's perception of the honesty and ethics of personnel in 45 occupations put physicians at fourth, be­ hind nurses, pharmacists, and veterinarians, with only a 58% rating. To put this in better perspective, lawyers were last but had a 41% rating.