Plastic Surgeon in Orange County California
Board Certification
The American Board of Plastic Surgery, Inc.
By choosing a plastic surgeon who is certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery, Inc., you can be assured that the doctor has graduated from an accredited medical school and has completed at least five years of additional training as a resident surgeon in a program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Medical Education. This includes a minimum of five years of residency training in all areas of surgery, including at least two years devoted entirely to plastic surgery. Certification is a voluntary process a surgeon seeks after this training. To become certified, the doctor then must pass comprehensive written and oral exams.
The certification process is designed to assure the public that a certified medical specialist has successfully completed an approved educational program and an evaluation, including an examination process designed to assess the knowledge, experience and skills requisite to the provision of high quality patient care in that specialty.
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is the umbrella organization for 24 approved specialty certifying boards. To be certified as a specialist by one of these recognized boards, a physician must complete certain requirements. The requirements for each specialty are determined by the specialty board, but the requirements generally include:
- Completion of a course of study leading to the M.D. degree from a recognized school of medicine.
- Completion of required training in an accredited residency program designed to train specialists in the discipline.
- All ABMS Member Boards require that a person seeking certification have an unrestricted license to practice medicine in order to take the certification examination.
It is the Board’s prerogative to determine the professional, ethical, moral, physical, and mental fitness of any candidate for certification. Candidates must maintain an ethical standing in the profession and moral status in the community acceptable to The American Board of Plastic Surgery, Inc. in conformity with the Board’s Code of Ethics. Moral and ethical practices that do not conform to the Board’s Code of Ethics may result in rejection of an application or in deferral of examination until such matters have been resolved satisfactorily. The Board may deny a candidate the privilege of sitting for an examination, or may deny issuance of a certificate, if additional disclosures or a recent change in status finds that the candidate no longer meets the general or professional requirements.
