Professionalism for surgeons

Professionalism should describe holistically and positively the role of the surgeon. Being a surgeon is far more than just being a good technician. Professionalism for surgeons considers the perspectives of the community, the patient, the surgeon and our College. Each surgeon represents the profession, just as our College does collectively. Professionalism is core to who we are, and what we do, as surgeons and needs to be well understood. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) combines Professionalism and Ethics as one of nine competencies that define surgical performance using behavioural markers.1 The competency framework was modelled on the CanMEDs framework, with medical roles recently revised.2 It is timely that the RACS competency framework is currently under review: professionalism may become the central competency.