Editing Professional certification (section)

=== Medicine ===
{{Main|Medical credentials}}
[[Board certification]] is the process by which a physician in the United States documents by written, practical or computer based testing, illustrating a mastery of knowledge and skills that define a particular area of medical specialization. The [[American Board of Medical Specialties]], a not-for-profit organization, assists 24 approved medical specialty boards in the development and use of standards in the ongoing evaluation and certification of physicians.

Medical specialty certification in the United States is a voluntary process. While medical licensure sets the minimum competency requirements to diagnose and treat patients, it is not specialty specific.<ref>[http://www.abms.org/about_board_certification/means.aspx What Board Certification Means] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701222425/http://www.abms.org/about_board_certification/means.aspx |date=1 July 2010 }}. Abms.org. Retrieved on 5 October 2013.</ref> Board certification demonstrates a physician's exceptional expertise in a particular specialty or sub-specialty of medical practice.

Patients, physicians, health care providers, insurers and quality organizations regard certification as an important measure of a physician's knowledge, experience and skills to provide quality health care within a given specialty.

Other professional certifications include certifications such as [[medical license]]s, [[Membership of the Royal College of Physicians]], Fellowship of the [[Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada]], [[nursing board certification]], diplomas in [[social work]]. The Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy certifies pharmacists that are knowledgeable about principles of geriatric pharmacotherapy and the provision of pharmaceutical care to the elderly. Additional certifying bodies relating to the medical field include:
* [[Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists]]
* [[American College of Emergency Physicians]]
* [[Royal Australasian College of Physicians]]
* [[Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons]]
* [[Membership of the College of Emergency Medicine]]
* [[Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology]]
* [[American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography]]