Does the ABMS promote professionalism or perfectionism?
• Edward J. Volpintesta, MD,FACP I agree with the author’s displeasure over the excessive security measures taken at the professional center where she sat for her recertification boards in geriatric medicine. But the recertification boards, especially in family medicine and general internal medicine are deserving of criticism in many other areas as well. Clearly they are disconnected and out of sync with the real world of medicine, particularly with how most primary care doctors tailor their practices according to their strengths and the needs of their medical communities. I didn’t take any board review exams because that would have made me a hypocrite. Besides, those who take the board reviews disadvantage those who don’t and make the final results almost meaningless when it comes to measuring a doctor’s total professional competence. Recertification should be taken only to uncover areas of weakness with recommendations for remedial study. They should not have a pass/fail approach. Th
