Revalidation is on its Way – Have your say

The Medical Board of Australia has released a discussion paper about the introduction of revalidation. A consultation process will be held from August until November 2016. By mid-2017, a final recommendation will be made to the Board for a pilot or the rollout of revalidation for Australian doctors.

Revalidation is the process by which doctors have to regularly show that their knowledge and skills are up to date, and fit to practise medicine.

Two distinct components have been proposed for the revalidation process:

1. maintaining and enhancing the performance of all doctors practising in Australia through efficient, effective, contemporary, evidence-based continuing professional development relevant to their scope of practice, and
2. proactively identifying doctors who are either performing poorly or are at risk of performing poorly, assessing their performance and if necessary, supporting their remediation.

The Board's discussion paper reports that the strongest risk factors associated with an increasing regulatory risk profile are:

• age (from 35 years, increasing into middle and older age)
• male gender
• number of prior complaints, and
• time since last prior complaint.

Feedback on the proposed approach to revalidation can be provided to the Board via written submission before 30 November 2016, or you can contribute to the online discussion on the Board's website or take a short survey to provide your views.