A Qualitative Case Study on the Perceived Impact that Changing Requirements from Medical Boards are Having on the Day-to-Day Activities of Community Physician

In today's healthcare field, recent changes in professional standards, specifically board certification, are affecting physicians who have been practicing medicine for years. While historically board certification was voluntary, in recent years there has been a push to make it mandatory to retain hospital and insurance privileges. In an attempt to make continuous board certification easier to uphold, the American Board of Medical Specialties launched a Maintenance of Board Certification (MOC) program to help physicians keep up to date on their skills and allow easier recertification. This has resulted in intense pushback from members of the medical community who believe in continuing education, but are opposed to the MOC process.;The aim of this study is to determine how community physicians perceive these changes on their professional lives and personal well-being. To this end, the research questions were as follows: What are the perceived impacts from recent changes on continuing education requirements for board renewal, on the professional activities of physicians?;What are physicians doing differently within their practice to comply with the new requirements?; With physician stress and suicides featuring predominantly in the news lately, what kinds of impact have the changing requirement over the past three years had on physicians' well-being and retention?; and How do local trends compare with trends being reported at the state and national level?.;The research questions were answered through a qualitative case study design using an original online survey to participants and then interviewing volunteers to share their experiences. This data was then triangulated to show that participants' perceptions were split almost evenly down the middle. While the dataset was small, it did show that women were less likely to report any negative perceptions or make any changes within their daily practice. Results also showed that physicians in practice over 30 years reported feeling more of an impact on their professional lives than their personal lives and that any negative impact was felt more strongly among outpatient focused physicians.;On this basis, it is recommended that physicians work closer with the American Board of Medical Specialties to help improve the process and create a cohesive alignment within the medical profession to reduce any perceived impact. Longitudinal studies could be undertaken using the same questionnaires and research questions to study these changes in other hospitals, locations or populations every few years to identify the direction of the initiative.