And that's the problem.
Patients expect their doctors to stay on the cutting edge of medical technology.
But procedures doctors learned in medical school just a few years ago are rapidly becoming outdated as new treatments and new drugs reach the field, and the changes keep coming. Critics say the current system of continuing medical education, or CME, is not enforced rigorously enough to keep doctors up to date. Moreover, they say, doctors are not continually required to demonstrate their competence. Everyone assumes that we're regularly tested, and that's just not true. If doctors pass their initial exam and continue paying their dues, they're licensed for life.