Residency is one of the ways of receiving specialist education by a resident physician. Recruitment is conducted twice a year. However, the number of places is limited.
Students who have obtained a medical degree are required to continue their education, that is to say, to start a specialisation which can be undertaken as part of a physician's employment on a full-time basis in a hospital, called, in short, residency.
The legal regulations concerning residents
The status of a physician during specialisation as part of residency is laid down in the Act of 1996 on the medical and dental professions, and the Regulation of the Minister of Health regarding medical and dental specialisations.
According to the rules, admission for residents is conducted twice a year. In order to enter the admission process a physician submits an application concerning the commencement of the specialisation in a particular area of medicine to the Voivodeship Centre of Public Health (WCZP) on whose territory he/she intends to undertake specialisation.
The decision on the number of places for residents in selected facilities is taken by the Minister of Health, after the analysis of data on the demand for particular specialist physicians presented by the Department of Health of the Voivodeship Offices and WCZP.
The medical exam results and interview decide on admission to residency.
A physician undergoes specialisation training within the scope of the residency on the basis of an employment agreement concluded with a body running specialisation training for a fixed period of time in the specialisation programme depending on the area of medicine.
The working time of resident physicians cannot exceed 7 hours 35 minutes per day, and, on average, 37 hours 55 minutes per week during an average five-day working week in the adopted account period. It is acceptable, for instance, considering the organisation of the work, to extend the working hours to 12 hours per day. In addition, resident physicians are required to be on duty not less than three times a month which should count as working time.
Residents are supervised by a specialisation supervisor. They are required to fill in a specialisation training sheet, which includes performed medical intervention and procedure indices with confirmations and credits, during their specialisation period.
After specialisation is completed, physicians take the National Specialist Exam.
The salaries of resident physicians
The residency is assigned and financed by the Minister of Health. Salaries depend on, for instance, the area of medicine in which they specialise. The salaries of physicians who decide to specialise in the priority areas indicated by the Minister are slightly higher.
The diversity of salaries is to encourage young physicians to undertake specialisations in the areas in which one can notice a decrease in the specialist services’ availability.
Residents' salaries are set by the Minister of Health on an annual basis according to the average monthly remuneration in the enterprise sector (without the payment of profit bonuses for the previous year), published by the President of the Central Statistical Office (GUS), in an amount not lower than 70% of the remuneration.
In 2013, the monthly remuneration for the residents who chose to specialise in the priority areas during the first two years of residency was PLN 3,602, and after two years of residency PLN 3,890, whereas in the case of other specialisations it was PLN 3,170 and PLN 3,458 respectively.
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