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Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations of Physicians and Health Care Professionals: Treating Providers and Protecting the Public

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Clinical Guide to Mental Disability Evaluations

Abstract

Health care providers practicing their profession with reasonable skill and safety is essential for the safety and well-being of the public. Physicians and other health care professionals may have their fitness for duty questioned by a variety of agencies tasked with oversight of the behavior of health care professionals. Mental health clinicians performing a fitness-for-duty evaluation of a physician or other health care professional will be required to conduct a comprehensive assessment, taking into account the impact of any disabling conditions, and provide opinions regarding the prognosis with treatment, the side effects of treatment, and the present and future impacts on the practice of medicine. The evaluating clinician will be asked for recommendations about whether treatment or professional workplace supervision may be needed to decrease the risk of future deterioration of professional capacities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 11E, 1105 Massachusetts Ave. Suite, Cambridge, Boston MA, 02138, USA

    Marilyn Price & Donald J. Meyer

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  1. Marilyn Price
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  2. Donald J. Meyer
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Correspondence to Marilyn Price .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of Medicine, N. Glebe Rd. 2501, Washington, DC, 22207, Vermont, USA

    Liza H. Gold

  2. PRMS, Inc., Risk Management, Wilson Blvd #700 1401, Arlington, 22209, Virginia, USA

    Donna L. Vanderpool

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Price, M., Meyer, D.J. (2013). Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations of Physicians and Health Care Professionals: Treating Providers and Protecting the Public. In: Gold, L., Vanderpool, D. (eds) Clinical Guide to Mental Disability Evaluations. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5447-2_13

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