Credentials Mateusz Gładysz

Lekarz is the Polish basic medical qualification. Medical studies last six years; the State Medical Final Examination, set by the Centrum Egzaminów Medycznych in Łódź, and a postgraduate internship complete the path to the right to practise. The medical degree is conferred by the medical university. The right to practise — Prawo Wykonywania Zawodu — is granted by the regional medical council (okręgowa rada lekarska) and entered in the central register kept by the Naczelna Izba Lekarska.

In Germany the regional medical chamber recognises a specialty title under its specialty training regulations (Weiterbildungsordnung) once the prescribed training and the chamber’s specialty examination are complete. I passed the examination at the Ärztekammer Niedersachsen on 27 June 2022. The certificate grants the right to use the designation Facharzt für Plastische und Ästhetische Chirurgie (Plastischer und Ästhetischer Chirurg); the designation may only be used by a doctor who holds the Approbation or a temporary permit to practise.

The examination of the European Board of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (EBOPRAS) has two parts. Part 1 is a computer-based paper of 120 multiple-choice questions in English, three hours long, normally held twice a year. Part 2 is an oral examination: two sessions of about 25 minutes, normally with two separate pairs of examiners, covering congenital abnormalities, trauma, burns, hand surgery, tumours, reconstruction, aesthetic and breast surgery. Part 2 is open to candidates who have completed four years of approved specialist training. Specialists who pass may call themselves Fellows and use FEBOPRAS.

Passing the examination does not give a right to work in any country; that right is granted by each country’s national authority.

The European Board of Hand Surgery (EBHS) Diploma Examination is run by the Examination Committee of FESSH, the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand. Candidates hold a national specialist qualification in hand, orthopaedic, plastic or general surgery and have trained in hand surgery — essentially for one to two years — in an accredited centre. The written part is an online multiple-choice test; the oral part has three stations, each with two examiners, held in the days before the FESSH congress.

As with FEBOPRAS, the right to practise comes from national authorities, not from the diploma.

Vocational registration is the Medical Council’s permanent, specialist registration. For plastic and reconstructive surgery, overseas specialist qualifications, training and experience are assessed against the standard of the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS). Specialists trained overseas first complete a period of provisional vocational registration, working under supervision.

The Centralny Rejestr Lekarzy is kept by the Naczelna Izba Lekarska from data supplied by the regional medical chambers. It records each doctor’s right to practise and specialisations, including specialist titles obtained abroad.

MEBEKO, a federal commission whose office is at the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), decides on the recognition of foreign diplomas and specialist titles where a treaty provides for mutual recognition, as the agreement with the EU and EFTA states does. The licence to practise is issued by the canton. Doctors are listed in the federal register of medical professions (MedReg), where the Global Location Number (GLN) identifies the entry.