Recertification. A continuing debate

Recertification, like taxes, will never draw many supporters from the targeted group. Why should physicians who have had to survive the stiffest of scholastic labors in order to obtain the privilege of a medical education again be asked to prove their continuing worth long after graduation? Apparently because health consumers feel that physicians occupy a critical role and want more tangible evidence that they are keeping up with the explosion of medical knowledge. Dr. Trobe has sought the opinion of Dr. Melvin Rubin, who challenges the assumption that a recertification test will offer a sufficient guarantee of clinical excellence to warrant the expense to the public and the "mental anguish" to physicians, and the opinion of Dr. Sidney Wolfe, who argues that examination is a necessary (though perhaps not sufficient) protection against flagging knowledge and skill.