title: Taking care of the doctors: the hospital's duty to evaluate, monitor, and discipline its medical staff.
abstract: The heart of a hospital's credentialing responsibilities lies in its duties to evaluate, to monitor, and to discipline its medical staff. Some key elements of an effective credentialing system are the skills of the medical staff coordinator, the use of physician proctors to evaluate new applicants, careful investigation of applicants for initial appointment and for reappointment, and education for department chairmen. Inevitable problems include physicians who do not work harmoniously with others and allegations of incompetence and impairment.
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003406:Credentialing; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008504:Medical Staff Privileges / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D010815:Physician Impairment; D014481:United States