Rhode Island is a state in the United States of America and has a board known as the ‘The Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline’. This is a state government agency that was formed by law to protect the interest of the public and to promote and ensure high standards of practice and professionalism. The board has the following main functions (Robert, 2008).
Licensure of the physician
The board is the only body that has the power to license qualified physicians. The board determines the prerequisite for licensure. According to the RIBMLD, these prerequisites include; successful completion and graduation from a school of medicine, successful completion of not less than one year of post-graduate training and USMLE licensing examination, demonstration of high moral and ethical standards, and payment of the application fee. The board also offers an annual renewal of licenses for all physicians previously licensed in Rhode Island.
Receiving, investigating complaints and discipline
The board is charged with the responsibility of receiving complaints from different quarters. These complaints are normally reviewed and investigated deeply so that concrete evidence against or for a particular physician who is accused is gotten. If found guilty, the accused may be subjected to suspension, restriction to practice medicine, revocation of the medical license, counseling if necessary, and in cases of gross misconduct that may put the life of the public in danger, the license may be suspended.
Assessing professional practices
This function is concerned with monitoring and assuring professional conduct. It is the duty of physicians to demonstrate high standards of medical professionalism in order to put the interest of the public above their own. Some of the “unprofessional conduct” according to the statute is patient abandonment, the practice of medicine under the influence of alcohol, sexual harassment in the name of physician/patient relationship, and misinterpretation of any medical report or any other report at their disposal. This list is long and many new unprofessional conducts are continuously added to it. It is worth noting that the board heavily relies on the American Medical Association (AMA) code of ethics as the recommended standard (medical malptractice.com).
Continuing medical education
Continuing medical education is one of the ways of ensuring that physicians are up to date with new medical research findings and technology. This is a condition that each and every physician in Rhode Island must take part in this type of education. This is normally monitored by the board to ensure that it is the same and to required standards across the state.
Providing public information on physician licenses in Rhode Island
The board acts as a resource center for both the government and the public where it provides information on physicians to them. It educates the public on its role and functions and provides the government with data on physicians in Rhode Island. It acts as a public relations organization between physicians and the general public. The RI law gives the public access to physician’s data and any other necessary information that may include the history of training, years of practice, and organizational affiliations.
Physicians Welfare
It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that all its members are medical, physically, and emotionally healthy. It works closely with the Physician’s Health Committee of the Rhodes Island Medical Society to provide medical treatment, assistance, and rehabilitation of impaired physicians.
The Conrad state 30 Program
The board is charged with the responsibility of administering the J1 visa waiver program for foreign medical graduates in the US under the J1 visa program. This program is under the US Immigration and Naturalization Service and allows each state to exempt 30 physicians from going back to their homeland for a period of at least two years before applying for immigration to the US.
From the above functions, we can deduce that the board is in full control of medical practice in RI as it controls every aspect. These functions are similar to the ones in the texts in that they both talk about the licensure of the physicians and the prerequisites for the licensure. Both articles talk about the receiving of complaints and investigating these complaints and the administration of discipline to those found guilty of an offense such as unprofessional conduct. All these are overseen by the state boards. From the two articles, it is also evident that every state offers its own examination of licensure in addition to others such as the National Board of Medical Examiners, Federal Licensing Examination, and the US Medical Licensing Examination. In RI, it is only the USMLE that is a requirement for licensure.
References
Robert, S. C. (2008). Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline; Rhode Island. Web.