Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

News

Organizational Professionalism: Role of Medical Council in Public Trust in the Profession

Document Type : Commentary

Author

Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

10.30476/jamp.2025.105902.2133

Abstract

As an ideology for managing healthcare relying on internal professional oversight, medical professionalism entrusts the responsibility of regulation to the members of the profession themselves. This allows them to demonstrate to the public that the necessary measures are in place to ensure the competency of individuals practicing medicine and to oversee their performance according to professional standards. This commentary explores how medical councils maintain professionalism through selfregulation and their critical role in sustaining public trust.
The medical council plays five key roles in fulfilling its selfregulatory function: A. Setting medical education standards and accrediting medical schools, B. Granting licenses to practice medicine, C. Establishing continuous education standards to maintain professional competency, D. Defining professional performance regulations, and E. Handling disciplinary matters related to professional conduct.
The strengths and weaknesses of their execution in our country’s medical council will be analyzed by introducing and providing examples of successful implementations of each of these roles in various countries. Finally, three solutions are recommended to maintain public trust and enhance these functions through conflict-of-interest management: separating the professional advocacy section from the self-regulation section, including non-medical professionals in the Medical Council and its various commissions, and ensuring transparency in policies, member information, and disciplinary rulings.

Highlights

FARIBA ASGHARI

Keywords

References
  1. Tallis RC. Doctors in society: medical professionalism in a changing world. Clin Med. 2006;6(1):7.
  2. Blank L, Kimball H, McDonald W, Merino J. Medical professionalism in the new millennium: a physician charter 15 months later. Ann Intern Med. 2003:839-41.
  3. Cohen JJ. Professionalism in medical education, an American perspective: from evidence to accountability. Med Educ. 2006;40(7):607-17.
  4. Wynia MK, Papadakis MA, Sullivan WM, Hafferty FW. More than a list of values and desired behaviors: a foundational understanding of medical professionalism. Acad Med. 2014;89(5):712-4.
  5. Collier R. Professionalism: the privilege and burden of self-regulation. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal. 2012;184(14):1559-60.
  6. Irvine D. The performance of doctors. I: Professionalism and self regulation in a changing world. BMJ. 1997;314(7093):3.
  7. Kane S, Calnan M. Erosion of Trust in the Medical Profession in India: Time for Doctors to Act. International journal of health policy and management. 2017;6(1):5-8.
  8. Joseph AE. The General Medical Council and the future of revalidation: Revalidation, discretionary points, clinical excellence awards-steps on the same ladder. BMJ: British Medical Journal. 2005;330(7505):1446.
  9. General Medical Council. Outcomes for graduates [Internet]. 2018 [Cited 23 June 2018]. Available from: https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/dc11326-outcomes-for-graduates-2018_pdf-75040796.pdf.
  10. General Medical Council. Proactive quality assurance of medical education and training [Internet]. 2021 [Cited 3 July 2021]. Available from: https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/how-we-quality-assure-medical-education-and-training/proactive-quality-assurance/introduction-to-proactive-quality-assurance.
  11. Islamic Parliament of Iran. Medical Coincil Law: Islamic Parliament of Iran [Internet]. 2004 [Cited 2 May 2004]. Available from: https://irimc.org/portals/0/laws/medicalsystemlaw.pdf.
  12. Health care Professional Bill of Rights. Medical Council of Islamic Republic of Iran [Internet]. 2021 [Cited 13 June 2021]. Available from: https://journalaim.com/Suppl/aim-23-658-Supp1.pdf.
  13. General Medical Council. Medical Licensing Assessment [Internet]. 2021 [Cited 18 January 2021]. Available from: https://gmc-uk.org/education/medical-licensing-assessment.
  14. Federation of State Medical Boards. About Physician Licensure: Federation Of State Medical Boards [Internet]. 2018 [Cited 7 June 2018]. Available from: https://www.fsmb.org/u.s.-medical-regulatory-trends-and-actions/guide-to-medical-regulation-in-the-united-states/about-physician-licensure/.
  15. Levinson W, Ginsburg S, Hafferty F, Lucey CR. Understanding medical professionalism. USA: McGraw Hill Professional; 2014.
  16. Densen P. Challenges and opportunities facing medical education. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2011;122:48–58.
  17. Eva KW. Regehr G. "I'll never play professional football" and other fallacies of self-assessment. The Journal of continuing education in the health professions. 2008;28(1):14-9.
  18. Eva KW, Regehr G. Self-assessment in the health professions: a reformulation and research agenda. Acad Med. 2005;80(10 Suppl):S46-54.
  19. General Medical Council. Guidance on supporting information for appraisal and revalidation [Internet]. 2018 [Cited 6 June 2018]. Available from: https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/RT___Supporting_information_for_appraisal_and_revalidation___DC5485.pdf_55024594.pdf.
  20. Campbell J WC. GMC multi-source feedback questionnaires. Interpreting and handling multisource feedback results: Guidance for appraisers [Internet]. 2012 [Cited 21 August 2012]. Available from: http://medicalrevalidationservices.co.uk/Information_for_appraisers.pdf.
  21. Cassel CK, Holmboe ES. Professionalism and accountability: the role of specialty board certification. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association. 2008;119:295-303.
  22. Kremer BK. Physician recertification and outcomes assessment. Evaluation the Health Professions. 1991;14(2):187-200.
  23. Islamic Parliament of Iran. Countinuing Medical Education Law: Iran, Islamic Parliament of [Internet]. 1996 [Cited 1 September 1996]. Available from: https://majlis.ir/fa/law/show/92667.
  24. Riddick FAJr. The code of medical ethics of the american medical association. The Ochsner journal. 2003;5(2):6-10.
  25. Irvine D. A short history of the General Medical Council. Journal of Medical education. 2006;40(3):202-11.
  26. Shamsi-Gooshki E, Parsapoor A, Asghari F, Parsa M, Saeedinejad Y, Biroudian S, et al. Developing" Code of Ethics for Medical Professionals, Medical Council of Islamic Republic of Iran". 2020;23(10):658-64.
  27. Cabinet of Iran. Diciplinary Procedures for Professional misconduct of Health Professionals: Islamic Parliament Research Center [Internet]. 1999 [Cited 7 January 1999]. Available from: https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/119395.
  28. General Medical Council. A guide for health professionals on how to report a doctor to the GMC. General Medical Council [Internet]. 2014 [Cited 4 December 2014]. Available from: gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/a-guide-for-health-professionals-on-how-to-report-a-doctor-to-the-gmc-0316_pdf-48911924.pdf.
  29. Dyer C. GMC admits failings that left Shipman's patients unprotected. BMJ. 2003;327(7426):1248.
  30. Bolsin S, Pal R, Wilmshurst P, Pena M. Whistleblowing and patient safety: the patient's or the profession's interests at stake? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 2011;104(7):278-82.
  31. Service MPT. We are the tribunal service for doctors in the UK [Internet]. 2022 [Cited 2 June 2022]. Available from: https://www.mpts-uk.org/.
  32. Boards FoSM. About Physician Discipline: How State Medical Boards Regulate Physicians after Licensing: Federation of State Medical Boards [Internet]. 2018 [Cited 1 September 2018]. Available from: https://www.fsmb.org/u.s.-medical-regulatory-trends-and-actions/guide-to-medical-regulation-in-the-united-states/about-physician-discipline/.
  33. Bright RP, Krahn LJCP. Impaired physicians: how to recognize, when to report, and where to refer. J Curr Psychiatr. 2010;9:11-20.
  34. Andrews LW. Substance-Impaired Physicians: Treating Doctors and Protecting Patients. Journal of Medical Regulation. 2005;91(4):7-12.
  35. Al Salmi Q, Al Fannah J, de Roodenbeke E. The imperative of professionalising healthcare management: A global perspective. Future Healthcare Journal. 2024;11(3):100170.
  36. Ellis N. The BMA as a trade union. J British Medical Journal. 1979;1(6176):1498.
  37. Sriram V, Brophy SA, Sharma K, Elias MA, Mishra A. Associations, unions and everything in between: contextualising the role of representative health worker organisations in policy. BMJ Global Health. 2023;8(9):e012661.
  38. McIntosh T, Pendo E, Walsh HA, Baldwin KA, King P, Anderson EE, et al. What Can State Medical Boards Do to Effectively Address Serious Ethical Violations?. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. 2023;51(4):941-53.
  39. Society TMP. The Medical Protection Society [Internet]. 2022 [Cited 5 January 2022]. Available from: https://www.medicalprotection.org/.
  40. Tribunal TOPaSD. Outcomes: The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario [Internet]. 2021 [Cited 14 August 2022]. Available from: https://opsdt.ca/hearings/outcomes.
  41. Ornstein C, Waldman A, Ojiaku P. Your Doctor Might Have a Disciplinary Record. Here’s How to Find Out: ProPublica [Internet]. 2019 [Cited 9 May 2019]. Available from: https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/investigating-doctors.
Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism
Volume 13, Issue 4
October 2025
Pages 353-358
Files
Share
How to cite
Statistics