Board Certification – A Patient’s Primer
October 5th, 2009
Joseph Grzeskiewicz, MD, FACS
You’ve no doubt heard the term “board certification.” The problem is, if you’re like most people, you still don’t really know what board certification really means. A recent survey was conducted by The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) asking people what factors they consider to be the most important when choosing a doctor. The top two were:
- Communication skills and bedside manner (95%)
- Board certification (93%)
However, 60% of respondents incorrectly believed that a physician must be board certified in order to practice medicine. Even more astonishing, 45% of respondents acknowledged that they never check to see if their physician is board certified (nor presumably do they understand why it’s important to check).
Part of the reason for these responses lies in the fact that 57% of the survey respondents felt it to be difficult to obtain clear and accurate information on this topic from doctors. And as a plastic surgeon, I know that’s true. I want to help you understand this complex topic.
If you’re interested in learning more, please click here: http://www.ljcsc.com/plastic-surgery-center/plastic-surgery-center-accreditation/plastic-surgery-center-accreditation.
