Rola samorządów zawodowych w sprawowaniu pieczy nad należytym wykonywaniem zawodów medycznych
The role of professional self-governments in performing supervision over the proper practice of the medical professions

Summary/Abstract: The role of professional self-governments which are entitled to perform part of public power is special. The 1997 Constitution of the Polish Republic assigns performing two types of task to professional self-governments, namely to represent the medical professions and to perform supervision over the proper practice of the medical profession in accordance with, and for the purpose of protecting the public interest. It is the needs of performing supervision over the proper practice of the given profession that has caused that professional self-governments were entitled to perform public competences exercised for the public repose confidence professions, including medical professions, such as physicians, dentists, nurses and midwives. As part of performing supervision over the proper practice of the medical professions in question, the chambers of physicians and dentists as well as chambers of nurses and midwives undertake many different activities in order to guarantee proper perusing of these professions, i.e.: in accordance with the current medical knowledge, available methods and means, in compliance with the rules of legal acts and professional ethics and with due care. These activities of diverse character (authoritative and non-authoritative) apply to both: the stage of awarding the right to practice the given profession and, the stage of realizing this right (also including losing it as a result of improper practice). At the stage of awarding the right to practice the given profession, the chambers of physicians and dentists and the chambers of nurses and midwives, among others things, verify and confirm the fulfillment of legal requirements, necessary to practice a given profession, by awarding the right (or limited right) to perform a particular profession. Afterwards people wanting to practice medical professions are registered as members of regional chambers. The supervision over proper exercising of these professions by the people who receive the right to practice the profession consists of undertaking activities which have influence on various aspects of the proper professional practice, such as: professional qualifications and abilities of the people performing medical professions, state of health of these people, the conditions in which the professions are performed in the forms of individual, specialist or group medical practice as specified by legal actsand conforming to specific legal and ethical conditions of exercising medical professions. The assignment of medical self-governments to carry out these diverse activities as part of the performing supervision over the proper practice of medical professions indicates the particular role that self-government play in the process of eliminating possible dangers coming from the improper practice of the professions in question.

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