American College of Surgeons - Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Method of Selecting Fellows 17 COMMITTEES ON CREDENTIALS The Board of Regents has authorized Committees on Creden- tials consisting of the Central Committee, which reports directly to the Board of Regents, and State and Provincial Committees, which report to the Central Committee on Credentials. The Central Committee on Credentials holds its meeting in the office of the College, where the members can have access to all papers and correspondence filed in connection with each candidate. The State and Provincial Committees, each consisting of from five to seven members, are located in nearly every state in the United States and in four divisions of Canada. The name of each applicant for fellowship, together with the names of his references, are sent by the Central Committee on Credentials to the State or Provincial Committee which has juris- diction over the territory in which the candidate resides, and this local committee, after consideration, makes its recommendations to the Central Committee. When an applicant ' s papers are complete, including a report from each of the references given and from the State Committee on Credentials, the Central Committee on Credentials takes up the application for final consideration and recommendation. When the candidate has successfully passed the final scrutiny of the Central Committee on Credentials, he is recommended to the Board of Regents for election to fellowship. If, on the other hand, the candidate ' s papers are found defective or his qualifica- tions are considered below the standard for fellowship required by the College, the Committee on Credentials notifies the candidate by the following form letter: Dear Doctor: — Your application to the American College of Surgeons has been con- sidered by our committee on several occasions, but we regret to say that the data submitted are defective to the extent indicated on the accompanying card. So far, our committee has had submitted to it over 20,000 pages of material for consideration in connection with the various applications for membership, all of which had to be carefully read, and you can readily see that in order to perform our duties thoroughly, we have been compelled to adhere to rules which might seem unreasonably strict, were we not compelled to do this work in an entirely impersonal manner. We have consequently decided to send this form letter to all appli- cants whose apphcations it has not been possible to send to the Board of Regents with our recommendation for election of the applicant. This action is frequently due to the fact that the surgeons given for

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i6 American College of Surgeons What medical college or colleges did you attend? Date of graduation? Degrees? In what hospitals have you been an interne, resident or assistant? From to ? In what hospitals have you been a staff member and in what capacity? In what teaching capacity have you been active? What other appointments have you had? What post-graduate studies have you pursued in America and where? What post-graduate studies have you pursued abroad and where? What official positions have you held? How many years in special practice and where? What department of special practice? What percentage of your work is surgical? What research or experimental work have you done? Of what medical societies are you a member? Give the names of five prominent surgeons as references, at least three of whom are from your own state. Give the names of books and contributions to medical and surgical literature of which you are the author, with date and place of publica- tion. Signed Date The application papers contain a separate declaration against the practice of fee-splitting. This is in the nature of a personal pledge, and each applicant is required to attach his signature to it and file it with his papers. REFERENCE BLANK While the by-laws require that an applicant give three endorsers, the Committee on Credentials now recommends that five names be given, three of which should be from the applicant ' s own state. The reference blank contains the following questions and answers: Name. Address. College and date of graduation. How long have you known the applicant? What is his surgical standing in the profession? What is his ex perience as a surgeon? How extensively does he specialize? What special training in surgery has he had? What is his moral standing in his community? What is his ethical standing? Do you believe he will carry out in practice the spirit of the enclosed declaration? Do you beUeve from your knowledge of the applicant ' s hfe that we can accept in good faith his fulfillment of the principles in volved in the enclosed declaration if signed by him? Do you believe he is in every way qualified for Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons? Remarks.

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i8 American College of Surgeons reference have neglected to send in reports upon which judgment could properly be based. Accompanying the above letter are two cards: Card A in- dicates the defect in credentials or documents of the applicant and card B indicates the remedy proposed. The status of the applicant ' s papers is shown by the imderscored lines. APPLICATIONS FOR FELLOWSHIP Over two thousand apphcations for Fellowship to the College had been filed up to November i, 19 13, fully one-half of which were voluntary applications. Of this number the Committee on Credentials recommended to the Board of Regents 1057 for Fel- lowship at the first convocation. A large number of the applica- tions still on file will undoubtedly be found to represent successful candidates, when they have been considered by the Committee.