I was saddened to hear both of their descriptions of the costs—temporal, financial and psychological. I don’t think those of us who sat on the Board two decades ago ever intended this outcome.
A Different Approach
I remember my first day in medical school in 1962. The professor reminded us that, according to legend, the students at some schools were instructed to look at the person to their right and then the person to their left, because one of the two was not likely to be there at graduation. Instead, at my school, the professor went on, it was assumed that if you were good enough to get in, you were good enough to graduate; it was the school’s job to teach and our job to learn as much as possible in the ensuing four years. With the pressure off we did much better than we would have done otherwise.
The same philosophy should apply to recertification.
Sidney R. Block, MD, graduated from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, completed his fellowship in rheumatology at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and has practiced in Maine since 1975, where he lives on the coast in Northport. He has received the Paulding Phelps Award and been recognized as a Master by the American College of Rheumatology.