Jumping through Hoops: I wish I could say that completing my on-line yearly board certification test has made me a better doctor, but I can't. In fact, I can't say that it contributes anything beyond what the usual continuing medical education activities contribute, other than taking up more of my time and costing more money.

In the past, maintaining board certification meant taking 50 hours of continuing medical education courses each year and passing a day-long test every seven years. Now, it means all of that plus taking an online test on a given clinical topic each year. The idea is that this will reassure the public (or the watchdogs) that we are policing ourselves. It wouldn't be so bad if the study materials were downloadable, but they aren't. Which means that you can't read them while waiting in line or during a baseball game. It really is a burden of very little benefit. But that's so true of just about every "new" development in medicine, isn't it?