Glossary
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Accreditation is a formal system to evaluate a
doctor’s competence necessary to perform safely and effectively
within the scope of the doctor’s practice, assessed against
specific criteria.
Can be called peer review or competence review.
College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (Canada)
Sometimes this word is used in terms of
evaluating an organization or system, eg, accreditation of
medical schools to ensure they meet the required standard.
The evaluation of an organisation or system such as
the evaluation of a training program or a hospital.
College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Alberta (Canada)
Refers to official recognition (e.g.
certificate) of meeting these criteria or standards.
Medical Council of Canada
Refers to the evaluation of an organization.
National Board of Medical Examiners (United States)
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Document providing evidence that
the doctor is fit to practice and has not been found guilty of
unprofessional conduct, and that there are no pending or
previous disciplinary orders or criminal proceedings against the
doctor.
A "Certificate of Current Professional
Status" includes details of any current restrictions on a doctor's right
to practise. Pending cases are not included in the certificate. European
"Verification of licensure" provides
demographic information, current status and boards' disciplinary
actions. United States
A CGS is only issued if the doctor is on the register and is not the
subject of any pending or current complaints that may result in
disciplinary proceedings. Does not attest that there have never been any
such matters of complaint against the practitioner. A "Letter of Good
Standing" (LGS) is issued to a practitioner who is no longer on our
register and is not the subject of any pending or current complaints
that may result in disciplinary proceedings. Does not attest that there
have never been any such matters of complaint against the practitioner.
Medical Council of Tasmania (Australia)
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An agency is empowered by statute to certify to the public that
individuals have satisfied particular requirements that indicate their
competence in a particular field. The certified practitioner is given
the exclusive right to use a certain title, e.g., doctors have the right
to practice medicine.
Confirmation (certificate is issued) by a licensing or educational body
stating the doctor has achieved a particular qualification. College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (Canada)
Agencies are required rather than empowered by statute to certify
physicians.
United States
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The process used by doctors to assess, evaluate and improve the care of
patients in a systematic way. It involves objectively measuring
performance against previously set standards and when the actual
performance does not meet the standard, making recommendations for
change.
Sometimes audit is used to describe the process to evaluate an
organization.
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A body that comprises, trains and represents a group of vocationally
registered doctors (see vocational scope of practise).
Sometimes called a "Faculty."
A "College" is an organized body of persons engaged in a common pursuit
or having common interests, rather than an educational institution or
part of a university, e.g., the body that licenses and regulates the
practice of medicine. A "Society" is a voluntary association of
individuals who meet for common ends, e.g., an advocacy group for
physicians. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (Canada)
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A competent doctor is one who has the skills and knowledge required to
practice medicine in accordance with the category of his or her
registration and who does practice to a standard acceptable to
reasonable peers, and to the community. (See "performance" for
comparison.)
Having requisite knowledge and skills as opposed to what a doctor
actually does in practice. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta
(Canada)
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People who use or are potential users of a health and disability support
service. Consumer is an inclusive term covering those directly involved
(patients), as well as caregivers and family (indirect consumers).
Doctors can be consumers.
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A person nominated by and accountable to a constituency. A consumer
representative, eg, a patient’s relative or friend, is responsible for
representing the views of the constituency they represent, and is
accountable to that group for the position they take.
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Educational activities undertaken to maintain competence, ensure medical
skills and knowledge are up-to-date, and improve clinical effectiveness.
Sometimes called continuing professional development (CPD) and
maintenance of professional standards (MOPS).
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Process to assign specific clinical responsibilities (scope of practice)
to health professionals on the basis of their training, qualifications,
experience and current practice within an organizational context.
Credentialing is part of a wider organizational quality and risk
management system designed primarily to protect the patient.
Credentialing involves a group of peers ratifying the general ability of
a practitioner to perform particular types of procedures, usually
relying on information provided by the practitioner, such as curriculum
vitae, qualifications or college Fellowship, a log of procedures or
treatments, evidence of continuing medical education and supervised
assessment, where appropriate. It gives broad recognition to appropriate
qualifications and experience.
This is sometimes referred to as
"Privileges."
(See "Fast Track Credentials System")
The process of assessing an individual's credentials – assessing
qualifications and letters of reference as examples. Distinct from the
process of privileging – defining the specific activities in which an
individual is allowed to perform in a specified setting. College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (Canada)
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When providers of a service are required or choose to disclose specified
information to prospective users of the service.
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A health professional licensed or registered to practice medicine may be
called physician, medical practitioner, osteopathic physician or medical
professional.
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A method being developed for quickly processing licensure applications
of medical practitioners who meet or exceed "gold standard" practice
requirements. This will be done via a fast track method, whereby
regulators exchange physician information in order to establish an
individual’s identity, qualifications and experience for the purposes of
registration/licensing in another country, thereby easing the migration
of competent physicians from one jurisdiction to another.
Term used in the U.K. to refer to the competence, conduct, professional
performance and physical/mental health of a doctor for the purposes of
medical practise. Doctors whose fitness to practise is impaired may be
the subject of action against their registration.
Outside the UK, fitness to practise will often refer only to the
physician and mental health of a doctor.
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A newly graduated doctor who has provisional or probationary
registration. This gives the doctor an opportunity to show that he/she
is fit to be granted full registration.
Sometimes the term is used to describe a doctor in training.
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Specific policy defined and implemented by two or more national medical
regulatory bodies for the registration/licensing of physicians.
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A person who is not a health professional. The layperson of a regulatory
body provides a different perspective; in particular, they do not have
the professional knowledge (or bias) ascribed to health practitioners.
May also be called "Public Member."
A member of a medical regulatory body who is not medically qualified.
General Medical Council (United Kingdom)
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Requirements that are laid down by government acts, regulations or
statutes.
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Document containing information about the physician’s current
physical/mental health professional conduct, and whether or not he/she
has been disqualified in part or totally from practicing medicine.
(See "Certificate of Good Standing" for comparison)
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Governmental authorization and official recording of the names of
persons who have certain qualifications in the practice of a medical
profession or occupation and who are permitted to exercise the skills
and privileges associated with that profession or occupation.
Sometimes referred to as "Practising or Registration Certificate."
Permission granted by a competent authority to allow an individual to
engage in a business or occupation or specific activity, e.g., to practise
medicine. Term is distinct from the register, which is a listing of
individuals who have been granted a license to practise medicine in our
jurisdiction. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (Canada)
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Legislation that grants an exclusive right to perform certain tasks to
specifically defined groups of people. For instance, in some countries,
only registered medical practitioners, dentists and veterinarians may
prescribe drugs.
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A regime where only licensed persons can offer certain services. Entry
to the occupation is dependent upon the worker meeting prescribed
standards. Entry qualifications normally involve education and some
discretionary criteria related to character or fitness to practise.
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(see "Doctor")
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Organization responsible for the registration/licensing of medical
doctors (physicians or MDs), whereby the doctors are entitled to
practice their profession and for the oversight of the physician’s
professional conduct. The medical regulatory body could be public,
non-governmental or a mix of both.
Can be called "Board, " "Council," "College" or "Regulatory Authority"
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The act of controlling professional medical practice in accordance with
law; or, a specific rule for carrying out a statute.
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A health professional who completes training in a recognized School of
Osteopathy (but not accredited by the American Osteopathic Association's
(AOA) Council on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA)) outside the
United States. These professionals have a limited scope of practice
(restricted to patient assessment and the use of manipulation only) and
cannot perform surgery or prescribe drugs, or medications in the course
or caring for their patients.
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A physician who, through study and clinical experience, is awarded the
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) degree by an AOA COCA (WHO
recognized) accredited school of osteopathic medicine, and is permitted
full practice rights including, but not limited to, surgery, prescribing
of drugs and medications, and the unrestricted practice of medicine,
with the integration of osteopathic manipulative treatment.
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A doctor, who performs satisfactorily and practices to a standard
acceptable to reasonable peers and to the community.
(see "Competent" for comparison)
A measure of what one actually does in practice as opposed to one’s
measurable knowledge and skills. College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Alberta (Canada)
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(see "Doctor")
Sometime refers to a doctor who works in the specialist area of internal
medicine.
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In some jurisdictions outside the United States, medical practitioners
who hold an unrestricted medical license or registry take advanced and
recognized courses in osteopathic manipulative treatment for which they
receive a certificate or recognition, and may employ manipulative
treatment in the course of rendering complete medical care to their
patients.
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Means a renewable certificate, which entitles a doctor to practise for
the period specified.
Sometimes called "Annual Practising Certificate" or "License" as it is
renewed every year.
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Privileges delineate the role a practitioner is allowed to perform in
the facility. The privileges may be broad, allowing work up to a certain
level, or may be specific to treatments or procedures that are part of
the practitioner’s training.
Sometimes called "Credentialing."
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The public member of a regulatory body is a person who is not a health
professional.
Sometimes called a "Layperson."
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Registration is a term used where there is a register kept of people who
meet certain criteria and of people able/permitted to do certain tasks,
like practice of medicine. There are no restrictions to entry to the
occupation apart from the requirement to be on the register if you wish
to enter, or continue to practise a particular occupation. Registration
in the latter sense does not convey any suggestion of competence or
quality of service.
Term used after individual fulfills all professional and legal
obligations necessary for accreditation of a medical surgical
practitioner or institution or hospital, etc.
Pakistan Medical and Dental Council
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The act of controlling professional medical practise in accordance with
law; or a specific rule for carrying out a statute. Regulation is about
the setting and maintenance of professional standards and, to this end,
will often incorporate responsibility for education, registration,
standards and fitness to practise.
There are different types of regulation: self-regulation can mean either
the way the individual doctor regulates his/her own personal behaviour/practise,
or be a description of a system of regulation operated by the profession
independent of government; and, professionally-led regulation is a
system of regulation led by the profession independent of government,
but in partnership with patients, the public and the wider society.
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The process by which doctors have to regularly show that they are up to
date, and fit to practice medicine. This will mean that they are able to
keep their license to practice.
Sometimes called "Recertification."
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Particular area of medical practice that requires particular knowledge,
skills and attitudes and may be specific to a procedure, location and/or
time period.
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A doctor who has a postgraduate qualification and works in a specific
are of medicine or scope.
Sometimes called "Consultant" or "Vocationally Registered."
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A vocational scope of practice is recognition from the regulatory
authority that the doctor can:
-
practise as a specialist
-
work without supervision
-
provide a collegial relationship, and
-
supervise doctors who hold registration within a provisional general,
provisional vocational or special purpose scope of practice.
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Each candidate is assessed against standards decided on prior to the
actual examination and is not assessed in terms of ranking relative to
others taking the same examination. Conceptually, using absolute
standards, all candidates could pass or all could fail the examination.
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In setting standards for minimum competence on multiple-choice based
credentialing examinations, one of the most commonly used approaches is
the Angoff method. The question asked by this method is, "What is the
probability that a minimally competent candidate would answer this
question correctly?" The standard setter is in effect asked to judge the
difficulty of the item within some range for a minimally competent
candidate. The estimated performance standard for a judge is determined
by summing the item difficulty estimates. The resulting average "Angoff
rating" over judges is then used as the performance standard for the
examination.
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A standard setting method that requires the judges to identify a group
of candidates that they believe to be on the "borderline" between
adequate and inadequate, in terms of the knowledge and skills measured
by the test. The cutscore is determined by identifying the test observed
score that divides the borderline group in two (e.g. using the median
value). This can be done with a sample of candidates; it assumes that
judges are able to make judgments about the knowledge and skills of the
sample of candidates.
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An examination format that utilizes specially trained standardized
patients (SPs) in assessing the clinical skills of candidates during a
standardized clinical encounter. SPs are generally used, in this type of
examination, to do the actual evaluation of the candidate.
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A standard setting method that requires the judges to separate a group
of candidates into those who are qualified and those who are not, in
terms of the knowledge and skills measured by the test. The cutscore is
determined by identifying the test score, obtained by these candidates
that best divides them into two groups. There are a number of different
ways to make this determination. This method can be done with a sample
of candidates; it assumes that judges are able to make judgments about
the knowledge and skills of the sample of candidates.
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Typically refers to a test or a standard setting approach that requires
candidates to reach a specified performance level that is related to
acceptable levels of knowledge and skills, and unrelated to how well the
candidates performed relative to others.
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Sometimes called a "compromise" approach, this standard setting method
requires that judges in the study estimate the highest and lowest
acceptable performance standard and passing rate. These four values are
used to plot two points. One point represents the minimum acceptable
performance standard and the maximum acceptable failure rate. The second
point is defined by the maximum acceptable performance standard and the
minimum acceptable failure rate. Any value falling on the line segment
defined by these two points is considered an acceptable combination of
performance standard and failure rate. The intersection of the line
segment with the cumulative frequency distribution of examination scores
defines the performance standard.
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An essential feature of this method is the use of item response theory
(IRT) to "map" items onto a proficiency distribution where cut scores
(standards) is set. Standard-setting panelists are presented with a set
of items, which are ordered by difficulty from easiest to hardest. Item
difficulty is empirically determined after calibrating the item using
IRT. This prearranged ordering presumably reflects the complexity level
of content and the level of the proficiency. Therefore, it helps the
panelists understand the relative relationship between difficulty and
proficiency. The panelists decide cut scores by reviewing the item
difficulty order and the specific content level represented by the item
difficulty order. The most important advantage of this method is that
the panelists are able to directly relate the cut scores they decide to
the level of competence. Therefore, it is more criterion-referenced than
many other standard setting methods.
This method was first introduced in late 1980s. The earlier applications
were based on items calibrated by the Rasch model (sometimes called
one-parameter IRT). In current literature, it is also called Mapmark
approach and categorized as a variant of Bookmark method.
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Generally refers to a test or a standard setting approach that assesses
a candidate in terms of how well the candidate performs relative to
other test-takers.
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A format administering a combination of appropriate assessments
- not an
assessment method.
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A norm-referenced approach in which candidates are assessed relative to
others taking the same examination.
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Generally refers to the accuracy or the
precision of an examination score. The degree to which a score or a set
of scores reflect the true knowledge level or skills of the test taker.
There are a number of procedures available for estimating reliability.
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Refers to the process of determining the
minimally acceptable examination performance level for a candidate to
receive a passing outcome. The standard setting process typically
identified a cutscore that will be used to separate failing and passing
candidates.
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Extent to which the there is theory or
evidence to support the use and interpretation of examination results.
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