Narcotic use, does it back you a substandard doctor/teacher?

[Jason_AZCOM]

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[WhoisJohnGalt]

So, as a graduation requirement, I was required to attending a meeting of the AZ Board of osteopathic examiners.

It is an intriguing process, which made me think about my own trainers and mentors....

I then looked up each of the five doctors who have been my preceptors on the Boards website/search function. 2 of the 5 had been before the board for narcotics use and other violations of professional conduct.

One had his license suspend for self-prescription of narcotics and abuse of cocaine (after 6 previous board actions), one was put on probation for 5 years for narcotics abuse (first board action).


I believe that people should have second chances in life, and certainly doctors are and were human beings long before taking their professional oath... but I also beleive those charged with training future professionals should have the utmost professional and personal integrity themselves.....

Should doctors with board actions (censure/probation/other board action) be acceptable preceptors for medical schools?

I think this isn't a blanket question that can result in a yes or no answer... it certainly depends on the type of board actions. If you're asking whether or not doctors with ANY previous board action should be prohibited from preceptorship, I think the answer is absolutely not. The major issue is a practical one: good preceptors are hard to find. You're asking a lot of a physician to deal with a med student (we've all heard about "the med student that only triples my work..."), and at least in many areas, you're not going to have a huge surplus of physicians willing to do this. Does this mean the university should settle for substandard? Absolutely not, but this brings me to my next point, which is that there are many board actions that do NOT make a doctor ill-suited for preceptorship. Using your specific example, does past cocaine use mean that he's ill-suited to show you how to give a physical exam? I really don't think so.