The Peer Review Process: Education Versus Control

With the advent of Professional Standards Review Organizations, mental health professionals are required to monitor and review their practices. The authors suggest that an educational peer review system promoting cooperation among professionals will be of greater utility and more acceptable to clinicians than a bureaucratized system of control, which might tend to foster manipulation. The authors’ three years of experience in utilizing a peer review system indicates, however, that it is a very powerful and delicate process, particularly as it identifies substandard clinical practices. The need for continuing and remedial education can be addressed, but the question remains as to how much authority should be vested in peer review committees. The authors believe that merging the functions of reviewing specific cases and reporting on the competency of therapists may destroy the review process.