Session 10 - Professions and Professionalisation Flashcards
What is a profession?
A type of occupation able to make distinctive claims about its work practice and status
What is professionalisation?
The social and historical process that results in an occupation becoming a profession
Give three ways in which medicine became a profession
Asserted an exclusive claim over a body of knowledge or expertise
Established control over market and exclusion of competitors
Established control over professional work practice (GMC)
What is professional socialisation?
The process through which new entrants acquire their professional identities
Give two ways in which medical students are professionalised
Formal curriculum Informal curriculum (attitudes and beliefs)
Why did the GMC claim doctors needed to be self regulated?
There is an unusual degree of skill and knowledge involved in professional work that non-professionals are not equipped to evaluate or properly regulate
Give four criticisms of self regulation
- Virtuous claims seen as self serving
- Favours interests of doctors over patients
- Discourages whistle blowing
- Control is informal and inadequate
How is GMC regulated now?
Mix of lay and professional members
All independently appointed
Overseen by the council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence
What is fitness to practice?
When there are concerns about a doctor’s fitness to practice
Give three fitness to practice issues
Misconduct
Criminal caution
Physical or mental illness
What is licensing?
Previously you stayed on the register unless actively removed. Now revalidated every 5 years.
