Monitoring doctors' clinical competence: a Queensland focus

The medical profession is held accountable in numerous ways, many of which are concerned with clinical competence. However, while Australia's State medical boards are statutorily charged with protecting the public from incompetent practice, they have never instituted programs aimed at maintaining the standards of all practitioners. The article describes recent legislative changes and developments in undergraduate medical education, which aim to increase physicians' accountability in relation to competence, and compares developments in Queensland and other States with those in the United Kingdom, Quebec and New Zealand. The investigation of clinical incompetence as currently undertaken by the Medical Board of Queensland should, and will, be adopted in other States. However, responding to incompetence is necessarily piecemeal, and the article further argues that the States should develop inclusive revalidation strategies. Both the community and leading voices within the profession are demanding greater commitment to a self-regulation culture that is more transparent and has sharper teeth.