Professional self-regulation: Learning from the disciplinary process [L'autoréglementation professionnelle: Quelques le?ons à tirer des procédures disciplinaires]

摘要

Medical regulatory colleges have a mandate to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by regulating the practice of medicine by physicians. In Canada, provincial colleges of physicians and surgeons fulfill this mandate through activities related to a) the registration of physicians to practice, b) the regulation of how physicians practice (either proactive or reactive regulatory activities), and c) remediation of physicians where specific deficiencies are identified and where remediation is appropriate.Throughout most of the 150-year history of self-regulation of the medical profession in Canada, this role has been performed primarily by reactive regulation, i.e., disciplining physicians who have been found to be practicing in a manner that members of the profession would consider to be dishonourable, disgraceful, or unprofessional. As important as remediation may be, the disciplinary process remains a key means of maintaining the public trust in the profession.