Abstract

ZERMENO-GOMEZ, María Graciela et al. Certification in General Surgery since the foundation of the Mexican Board of Surgery 42 years ago. Cir. gen [online]. 2019, vol.41, n.4, pp.314-321.  Epub Nov 27, 2020. ISSN 1405-0099.

Since the colonial period, all medical doctors who wanted to exercise their professional responsibilities needed to be certified by law. However, the first medical boards in our country were not founded until the XX century in order to certify by examination diverse medical specialties. At the beginning these boards had as their primary responsibility to legitimate the medical profession but afterwards these have became as non-governmental organizations for improving and assuring an optimal medical professionalism. Nowadays and since the foundation of the Mexican Board of Surgery (MBS) in 1977, this degree of competency among all Mexican surgeons is acknowledged by means of a composed, standard and staged (curricular, written and oral) assessment. The certification process has broadly evolved from its beginning up to date. This article presents an historical overview of the MBS, its organizational structure, changes on the certification process throughout the years as well as a general perspective of all the Mexican surgeons who have became certified until now.

Keywords : Mexican Board of Surgery; specialty board; Mexico; review; historical article.