The importance of international consensus statements in surgery*

The article is a summary of some of the pertinent literature on professionalism, highlighting the difference between how physicians understand professionalism and how other groups e.g. politicians, nurses and hospital managers might view the professionalism of doctors. It partly explains why surgeons have become increasingly ‘managerialised’ and lost autonomy since the 1970s. I speculate what might be the logical conclusion of this process if surgeons continue to be seen as technicians. The choice facing the surgical profession appears to be between retrenching, by this is meant resisting the challenges to traditional notions of professionalism, or reforming, i.e. to develop new workable models that better serve society and the profession. Some of this might make uncomfortable reading for physicians and surgeons; it is meant to.