Report on medical board transparency about sexual misconduct
The Informed Patient Institute and the Patient Safety Action Network have released a report on "Communicating about Physician Sexual Misconduct: How are state medical boards doing?" The report is focused on transparency and education of the public and physicians about sexual misconduct. From the report: "In the initial review by volunteer researchers, only eight out of the 64 websites reviewed had information about physician sexual misconduct directed at consumers/patients and 15 had information directed at physicians. Upon further examination of these and other sites, we found only a few with policies and materials that demonstrated to the public and doctors the seriousness with which these regulators handled such violations. These included state medical boards that had clear policy statements about sexual misconduct, informative and easy to find materials for the public and physicians and provided training on the topic. On the other hand, we also found state boards frequently used euphemistic language to obscure sexual misconduct. Many states didn’t have any material that we could find." The report gives a series of recommendations "focused on state medical board website information available for the public and for physicians as well as training and other activities."