The Certification Process Driving Patient Safety

In 2016, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the National Patient Safety Foundation issued a joint call encouraging each ABMS member board to integrate patient safety principles and activities into their initial and continuous certification processes. This article describes how the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology integrates various aspects of patient safety principles into its initial and continuous certification processes. The authors first describe how they assess patient safety within their initial certification processes. They then describe each component of their maintenance of certification program, and how they intentionally embed patient safety principles within each component.