Recognizing and dealing with impaired clinicians, Part 1: Recognition and reporting.

Medical licensing boards and clinical societies encourage (and most boards require) physicians to report colleagues reasonably suspected of not practicing safely and competently. Failure to report unsafe, incompetent, or illegally acting clinicians can seriously damage patients, the profession, and the doctor himself/herself. Good-faith reporting is generally protected from law-suit. This article discusses how you can recognize and deal with clinicians in this situation.