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Credentialing and Privileging - Peer Recommendations

Who can provide a peer recommendation for licensed practitioners such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and psychologists, midwives, and social workers when there is no other similar practitioner on staff?  

Any examples are for illustrative purposes only.

The definition of a peer is someone from the same discipline. For example, physicians for physicians, dentists for dentists, podiatrists for podiatrists, etc. It does not have to be someone in the same specialty (orthopedist, etc.). To be able to provide a recommendation, the peer must be familiar with the individual's actual performance.  For the nurse practitioner, physician assistant, and psychologist, or social worker, the peer should ideally be another individual from the same discipline and the organization should attempt to obtain such recommendation. This could be someone within the same organization or someone from outside the organization.

Peer recommendation includes written information regarding the practitioner's current:
  • Medical/clinical knowledge
  • Technical and clinical skills
  • Clinical judgment
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Communication skills
  • Professionalism
In situations where there is no nurse practitioner, physician assistant, psychologist, or social worker who could provide a peer recommendation, it is acceptable for a physician with essentially equal qualifications, and who is familiar with the allied health practitioner's performance, to provide the recommendation. For example, an internist could provide a recommendation for a physician assistant, an anesthesiologist could provide a recommendation for a nurse anesthetist, a psychiatrist could provide a recommendation for a psychologist, and a psychologist with similar responsibilities could provide a recommendation for a social worker.

 
Manual: Hospital and Hospital Clinics
Chapter: Medical Staff MS
Last reviewed by Standards Interpretation: December 13, 2022 Represents the most recent date that the FAQ was reviewed (e.g. annual review).
First published date: April 11, 2016 This Standards FAQ was first published on this date.
This page was last updated on January 30, 2024 with update notes of: Editorial changes only Types of changes and an explanation of change type: Editorial changes only: Format changes only. No changes to content. | Review only, FAQ is current: Periodic review completed, no changes to content. | Reflects new or updated requirements: Changes represent new or revised requirements.
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