Professionalism

It is the first week of a new rotation. A consultant asks you to clerk the next patient without supervision. Another asks you to sign a drug register for a medicine you did not witness being administered. A third arrives smelling faintly of alcohol after lunch. Three doors, one profession. This topic is the map for the rooms that have no protocol sheet on the wall.^[14][15]

Overview and definition

Medical professionalism is the set of expectations, duties and behaviours the profession collectively owes to patients, the public and the regulator. It is not a personality trait, and it is not reducible to kindness. It is a social contract: society grants the profession autonomy, self-regulation and prestige; the profession commits to competence, integrity, accountability and primacy of patient welfare.^[14]

You will meet it in three layers: ^[1][2]

• The legal layer — legislation (the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 in Australia, the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 in New Zealand) sets the regulator's powers and the practitioner's obligations.^[3][5]
• The regulatory layer — codes, standards and guidelines issued by the Medical Board of Australia (Good medical practice), the Medical Council of New Zealand, AHPRA and the HDC translate the law into the working standards you are held to.^[1][6]
• The college layer — RANZCOG's Code of Professional Conduct, WPI statements and curriculum resources define the specialty's own expectations, often more detailed than the regulator's.^[2][7]

The eight RANZCOG Roles (Medical Expert, Communicator, Collaborator, Leader, Health Advocate, Scholar, Professional, Culturally Safe Practitioner) operationalise the contract as assessed competencies. The seventh — Professional — is the explicit competency map for this topic; the eighth — Culturally Safe Practitioner — is RANZCOG's addition and an examinable domain in its own right.^[7]

References17ShowHide

1. [1]Medical Board of Australia Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia Medical Board of Australia, 2020.Source
2. [2]Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Code of Professional Conduct RANZCOG, 2023.Source
3. [3]Medical Board of Australia / Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Guidelines for mandatory notifications about registered health practitioners AHPRA, 2020.Source
4. [4]Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Annual Report 2022-23 AHPRA, 2023.Source
5. [5]Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (NZ) New Zealand Government, 2003.Source
6. [6]Medical Council of New Zealand Statement on cultural safety MCNZ, 2019.Source
7. [7]Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists FRANZCOG Curriculum, 4th Edition RANZCOG, 2026.Source
8. [8]General Medical Council (UK) Good medical practice GMC, 2024.Source
9. [9]Varkey B Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice Med Princ Pract, 2021.PMID 32498071
10. [10]Avant Mutual Annual Report 2023 Avant Mutual, 2023.Source
11. [11]MDA National Annual Report 2023 MDA National, 2023.Source
12. [12]Medical Indemnity Protection Australia (MIGA) Annual Report 2023 MIGA, 2023.Source
13. [13]Medical Protection Society Annual Report 2023 MPS, 2023.Source
14. [14]Cruess RL, Cruess SR, Boudreau JD, et al. Reframing medical education to support professional identity formation Acad Med, 2014.PMID 25054423
15. [15]Monrouxe LV, Rees CE, Dennis I, et al. Professionalism dilemmas, moral distress and the healthcare student: insights from two online UK-wide questionnaire studies BMJ Open, 2015.PMID 25991457
16. [16]Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Open Disclosure Standard ACSQHC, 2019.Source
17. [17]Health and Disability Commissioner (NZ) Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights New Zealand Government, 1996.Source