2009-The Physician of the Future English and Catalan

3. H OW TO BRIDGE THE GAP 83 3.4. Professional Associations Professional associations ought to lead the medical profession. In order to ful"l their leadership theymust visualize future scenarioswherephysicians will be able to overcome the prevalence of the complaint culture. Professional associations must remain updated, improve their own management and increase their representative strength in order to become the true think tanks of the profession. $ey will "rst have to concentrate on "ghting the increasing lack of interest by physicians in them, which weakens them enormously. $ey need to enter forcefully into the question of con&ict of interests that so o%en emerges in the medical practice, as well as establishing transparent policies todealwitherrormanagement by leadingqualityand security. $ey should also commit themselves in support of continuing medical education and continuous professional development of their members as these constitute the ethos of the medical profession. $e College of Physicians and Scienti"c Societies should be able to understand their primary functions and responsibilities, concentrate their activities on them, and work in di'erent "elds than labour Unions in order to avoid interfering with each other and useless competitiveness among them. But at the same time, they must know when cooperation is necessary and fruitful and so be able of initiating joint initiatives and ensuring the professionspeaks to societywitha single voice.$eyought to seekalliances with other health agents and patient associations and should become preferred partners for an improvement of the health care system. Since health authorities (central and autonomous governments) are the regulatory agents that formally express the social covenant of the medical profession, it is of utmost importance for medical associations to establish smooth relationships with them. $ey need to demonstrate that they are willing and able to comply with their part of the profession’s co-regulation: professional self-assessment.