Regulation of New Doctors

Sorry for the late blog post! Work, call, moving, and settling into a new place have been exhausting. We're still working on the Internet connection in our house, and I'm still waking up extra early and staying extra late trying to get to know my practice.

The privileging process of new physicians is a long yet necessary one. I have joined a physician group that contracts with the hospital. In being employed by the group, they have gone through my diplomas, records, resume, and references. But although the group is contracted to a hospital, the hospital itself must vet my records in order to add me to their medical staff. So in the process of getting a job, I feel like I've been doing everything in duplicate. After going through my CV, contacting my training programs, and checking with the state medical board, the hospital granted me temporary privileges.

But how do you know that a physician you hire is going to be okay? How does a hospital come up with a policy to approve radiologists, primary care physicians, anesthesiologists, and psychiatrists? The easiest way, and the way most places do it, is through peer review and proctoring. During my first few anesthetics, I had a proctor evaluate my technical skills and decision making. It certainly helped to have someone familiar with the system who I could ask questions. Because the truth is, the medical side is easy; I've been doing anesthesia and critical care for years. Figuring out the hospital and how things work is much more challenging.

After the proctoring period, my privileges are temporary until half a year when a retrospective review of my records dictate whether I can be approved for permanent privileging. Overall, it seems a lot of paperwork and busywork for me to do what I'm trained to do. And it also duplicates so many other processes - board certification, residency requirements, oversight of the state medical board. But I guess it's a way for everyone to protect themselves and have multiple evaluation systems to prevent a dangerous physician from practicing.