SUPPORTING+RESEARCH

**Supporting Research:** There are currently some other medical professions who have already adopted a recertification process to keep their professionals up-to-date. Some of these professions include: Physician assistants, radiologists, and sonographers. The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) is the governing body for recertification. The NCCPA is committed to assuring the community that certified physician assistants that are certified meet all the professional standards including knowledge and expertise throughout their entire career. All 50 states including the District of Columbia utilize the NCCPA’s certification standards for regulation of licensure for certified physician assistants.

In order to ensure continued education that is current with times, certified physician assistants must pass a recertification exam every six years as well as complete a log of 100 continuing medical education hours every two years. The physician assistant must complete the recertification exam by the end of their sixth year cycle but is allowed to start taking the exam up to one year in advance allowing the maximum of four opportunities to pass the exam. There are two different recertification examinations including the Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam (PANRE) or the Pathway II. These two exams are similar in format and degree of difficulty. The 300 multiple choice questions evaluate the physician assistants’ knowledge of general medicine and surgery. Along with the Pathway II one must receive 100 elective points that can be earned any time during the six year certification cycle (“Registering for the 2010,” 2010).

The American Board of Radiology (ABR) is the certifying organization for radiologists. The ABR carries out the initial qualifying and final examinations to assess the qualification of those physicians that studied radiology. This person is termed a board-certified radiologist or radiologic physicist. This initial certification is important to provide credentials and prove ones performance standards to potential employers as well as patients. It is important once ABR-certified that continued education is upheld (“What Is IC,” 2010). This continued education and certification is completed through Maintenance of Certification (MOC). This ABR MOC program was developed within guidelines of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). The MOC process is designed to document the professional development of each ABR-certified diplomat by focusing on the quality of care. MOC is developed on the basis that “lifelong learning is critical to ensure that new information and knowledge are incorporated into clinical practice” (Becker, et al., 2005). The program is supported by documentation within the four components of the MOC; these include: Professional standing, lifelong learning and self-assessment, cognitive expertise, and performance in practice. These components break down further into competencies including medical knowledge, patient care, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, practice-based learning and improvement, and systems-based learning (Becker, et al., 2005).

The requirements for diagnostic radiology include completing 500 approved continued medical education (CME) requirements over a 10 year period, 250 of these must be Category 1 and at least 70% must be related to practice specialties. Self-assessment is also mandatory and is completed through 20 modules over the 10 year MOC cycle (Becker, et al., 2005). For sonography, the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ARDMS) is also making changes of their own. “The ARDMS is launching a recertification assessment program in 2012 and the first examinations will be offered in 2019” (“ARDMS recertification,” 2011). The assessment program will have to meet the required standards of the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), accredited by the ARDMS (“ARDMS recertification,” 2011). The ISO-ANSI states that registrants should have an up-to-date knowledge of current practices and that CE’s alone are not enough to prove such. “Beginning in 2012, Registrants, assigned a recertification assessment period will take a recertification examination in each clinical specialty area in which they hold active credentials” (ARDMS recertification,” 2011). This examination will be available online for registrants to take during the last three years of a ten year recertification period. Everyone who holds an active status will be required to take the examination. There will be no grandfathering according to the ARDMS.

There are still many professions who have not moved to a recertification process, such as the nursing field. Although these professions have their education and certification requirements in place, it is possible that they may be lacking the current knowledge and skills that can enhance their ability to provide a high standard of patient care that the radiology field is already able to offer. As with most other health care fields, nursing has certification requirements mandated at the state level. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is the organization responsible for overseeing the nursing licensure process, including the examinations, practice research, education developments, and clinical data. This organization instituted two examinations, the NCLEX-RN and the NCLEX-PN to assess entry-level nursing competence of candidates for licensure as either registered nurses or licensed practical nurses. The NCLEX is required for state licensure to practice as a nurse (“NCLEX Examinations,” 2011).

Once the nursing license is obtained, it must be renewed annually, but no re-certification is necessary. This means that examinations only need to be taken on a one-time basis. The only other requirement for maintaining licensure is to complete a certain amount of continuing education, which varies from state to state on a biannual basis (“History,” 2011).

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