Board eligible vs. board certified Doctor-

from what I can gather online,

Board Eligible means they graduated from an accredited program (and either are in the process of seeking certification, or have not taken or passed the examination for certification).

Board Certified means they completed the written and oral examination for board certification.

Date: 5/1/2009 2:31:12 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
from what I can gather online,

Board Eligible means they graduated from an accredited program (and either are in the process of seeking certification, or have not taken or passed the examination for certification).

Board Certified means they completed the written and oral examination for board certification.

Took the words right out of my mouth! 

So eligible or certified has nothing to do with their experience/knowledge.?
 

Eh, not really happy with the endo. I'm seeing & after reading reviews online I'm not the only one   Hopefully a new health insurance plan will have more options so I can switch.   Thanks for replying

My med. student dh just explained to me that he would be a board certified physician who is trained in endocrinology, but hasn''t been certified by the board of endocrinology yet for any number of reasons. Dh said that he would prefer a board certified one.

HUGE differnce.  Board certified means they passed the exam.  Board eligible means they have the education and are qualified to take the exam but either have not taken it yet or have failed it.  Board eligible can mean they have taken and passed the exam 15 times.  Board certified means they passed.

My brother in law failed his internal medicine board 4x!  Yet he was still practicing.  I would not want to go to a doctor who could not pass the exam.

Also, board eligible could and usually means less experienced.  However a board certified could be "green" as well but at least they passed their exam.

Either of those terms means they have taken all the necessar education to practice medcine, are M.D.s and can treat patients.

The doctor who I used for my first child was sick the night I went into labor and she had someone covering her I did not now.  He was board eligible.   Trying to not give too much info, lets just say that the stiches he did had to be redone by my regular doctor at my 6 week visit because he screwed them up and I did not heal correctly.   She had to make a new cut and restich and if it was done correctly the first tim I could have avoided that trauma.  OUCH. 

I personally would avoid board eligible whenever possible.

Thanks Sabine & Asscherisme. 

Normally board eligible/board certified wouldn''t bug me if I felt like the Dr. was doing a good job.  This particular Dr. seems green. She does things that no other endo. I have seen does & I''m going to switch as soon as I can.

Asscher I can''t believe the Dr. messed up stitches, they seem so basic. That really must have hurt given the area.