Is Your Doctor “Board Eligible” or “Board Certified”?

It’s pretty much a given that the general population have no idea about how doctors are trained or licensed. Most know that it is a hard and long process that takes years.

But did you know that most doctors study and train for the rest of their careers, not simply by ‘practicing’ medicine, but by actually sitting for grueling exams every 7-10 years?

In the US, you can become licensed by 2 different regulatory boards to become a physician.

1. The traditional allopathic medical license; the “MD” where most physicians are boarded (Example: Dr. Bola)

2. The osteopathic medical license; the  “DO” accounts for only about 5% of physicians (Example: Dr. Carol).

Both entities legally and academically share similar enrollment criteria for medical schools, residency and licensing criteria. The DO physicians get an extra training in the holistic osteopathic manipulation (OMT) otherwise known as manual ‘hands on’ medicine.

When you see a doctor or hospital advertising that their physicians are board CERTIFIED it means that those physicians attended regular conferences and lectures throughout the year continuing medical education credits (CME) and then also study and sit for medical testing over 1-2 days called the BOARDS to get the special certification from their respective specialties.

For example, I sat for my first family medicine boards straight out of residency in 2001 (for both the MD boards and DO boards) and then sat for recertification in 2009 and have been continually been updating my skills and knowledge since then to obtain my 50 CME credits per year in order to sit for re-certification again in 2019.

I can say that Dr. Bola is doing the same thing. Her time frame is a few years more recent since she is a few years younger than me.

As you can see, this takes a lot of time, effort and financial investment. To top if off; passing is not easy. This separates those physicians who are board “ELIGIBLE” and those who actually are board “CERTIFIED”.

In general, most would argue that a board “CERTIFIED” physician is going to be more adept in their skills and knowledgeable since they allow an outside entity to monitor their performance and medical acumen throughout their careers.

You might want to make sure your physician is board CERTIFIED and no, we are not taking new patients.

We, however are taking in new “students” to the Healthgist University; our paid membership program where you get access to additional articles, audio, video, cheat sheets and worksheets reserved only for the “students” of HealthgistU.

You also get to ask us one health related or medical question each month. All these at a ridiculously affordable cost. Check it out.