The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 55, 1345-1348, Copyright © 1993 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Credentialing in medicine
FC Wilson
Division of Orthopaedics, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill 27599-7055.
This article describes the history and process of credentialing:
accreditation of programs and certification of individual practitioners.
Under accreditation, general (institutional) and discipline-specific
requirements, both for residencies and fellowships, are considered, along
with possible outcomes and the appeals mechanism for an unfavorable review.
Under certification, the relationship between individual specialty boards
and the American Board of Medical Specialties is defined, followed by a
consideration of the principles underlying subspecialty certification and
recertification. It is concluded that enforced standards of learning are
one of the pillars of accountability upon which a profession must rest;
that if medicine abdicates its responsibility to impose credible standards
on itself, its place will be taken by very interested, but less
knowledgeable, others; and that we must, therefore, rededicate ourselves to
the requirement of reasonable standards as a professional obligation and
use the best means possible to meet that responsibility.
