What does it mean to be ‘Board Certified?’ I often get asked if I am a board-certified facial plastic surgeon or a board certified rhinoplasty surgeon. It’s a bit of misleading question and is based on medical certification in the United States, not Canada. Let me explain.

In the USA, there is the American Board of Medical Specialties which certifies their physicians. When you want to practice as a physician in the USA, you need to be “Board Certified.” A Canadian Physician can not be “Board Certified” unless they want to work in the USA. Being board certified by the USA does not have any meaning here in Canada.

In Canada, we get a few different certifications before we can practice medicine. We need to finish Medical School first, then we complete our residency (Specialty Training) and become Certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. This is the equivalent of the American Board of Medical Specialties. If a Physician in Canada Passes their 2-day specialty examination after their residency Training (5- year for surgeons), they can apply to be Certified by the Royal College and then we become, A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCSC). In addition to this, you need to apply and be certified by a provincial board. In Ontario, that would be the CPSO or, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. All that together, allows a doctor to work in Canada. Having an American Board Certification does not allow you to work as a doctor or surgeon in Canada, it has no meaning here.

However, in some situations doctors in Canada can be “board eligible” for the American Board of Medical Specialties. In 2013, I completed a fellowship (extra Training) followed by a two day examination by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. This as the examination everyone hoping to be “Board Certified” for facial plastic surgery in the United States must pass. If you passed the examination you are the eligible to be board certified.

I was fortunate enough to complete this fellowship and pass these exams. Since I work in Ottawa, I am not “Board Certified” as I would simply be paying money to the USA to not practice in the USA.

Online you often see people say, make sure your doctor is board certified, that has no meaning here in Canada, we are not certified by the USA medical system. If you do want to see if your doctor is certified here in Canada, you can search on the provincial Medical Colleges Websites. For Ontario, you can search here https://doctors.cpso.on.ca/.  Also, you can ask you surgeon if they passed training that would be equivalent to being board certified in the USA. The other thing to note, is that it is very difficult to get certified in Canada, more so than the USA.  Canada has very strict regulations on the medical profession, rightly so. So any doctor that has been certified in Canada has to have passed multiple examinations as well as confirmed training.

Dr James Bonaparte, MD, MSc, FRCSC
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada