When it comes to choosing a doctor, consumers say bedside manner, communication skills and board certification matter most. Those are the findings of a new survey released by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), a not-for-profit organization that oversees the board certification process of physicians in the United States. According to the survey, more than nine out of 10 Americans consider communication skills and board certification more important than a doctor’s hospital affiliation, place of training or office location, with 95 percent of respondents naming communications skills and bedside manner as the most important physician traits, and 93 percent naming board certification. Although the survey results indicated that the vast majority of Americans think board certification is important, the survey also found that most people don’t understand what board certification is. That’s an important distinction, says ABMS president and CEO Kevin B. Weiss, MD. “Sixty percent of those surveyed incorrectly believe that a doctor has to be board certified to practice medicine, and only 45 percent had ever checked to see if their doctor is board certified,” said Dr. Weiss. “Board certification is actually a voluntary process that goes above and beyond what is required by law for a doctor to practice medicine. That means patients can be sure that any doctor who is board certified by an ABMS Member Board is committed to lifelong learning and the highest standards of care in his or her medical specialty.”
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