This book provides insights into dynamic and complex interrelationships between professionalism and medical practice. It does so by looking into the most relevant and recent theoretical and practical frameworks and by systematizing and integrating extensive and growing literature on medical professionalism. Through honest and prudent contributions from very diverse backgrounds and contexts, this book provides an understanding of medical professionalism derived from a broader historical and cultural context in order to contribute to everyday professional life and practice - the very place of its existence. The book presents the conflicting and sometimes irreconcilable demands and challenges physicians face in everyday practice. A better understanding of these fundamental issues is the only way for medicine to maintain and preserve its unique morality, the same one that enabled its existence in the first place. The book is relevant for everyone immersed and interested in the subject of medical professionalism as a resource, which may ease or guide them through the complexities of issues at hand. It will also contribute to the ongoing debate on medical professionalism, medical ethics, bioethics, and professionalism and ethics in general.

In this book the work of ethics committees in Croatia is being investigated for the first time. The 1997 Law on Health Protection introduced legal standards for the establishment of the so- called "mixed" type of ethics committees at healthcare institutions. Our study aims to examine whether this top-down approach of ethics committee implementation was the right approach for Croatia and what the consequences of this approach have been for the work and formation of Croatian ethics committees. The investigation is focused on the types of committees, the functions they perform in their everyday work, and their membership structure. Special emphasis has been placed on the analysis of ethics committees at healthcare institutions, especially hospitals, in Croatia. The Croatian situation regarding the education of ethics committees is also discussed. Possible solutions and approaches to ethics committee education for transitional societies, with special emphasis on the Croatian healthcare system, are discussed. The book also provides recommendations for further improvement of the work of ethics committees in Croatia.