Activities of UEMS--section dermatology and venereology.

In the time when Republic of Croatia is a candidate to enter European Union (EU), it is proper moment for all members of the Croatian Derma-tovenereological Society to learn more about UEMS-Section DV. The European Union of Medical Specialists – UEMS (Union Européenne des Médecins Spé-cialistes) started its activities in 1958 with the main goal to promote high quality specialist medical care and harmonization of specialist medical care within Europe. UEMS is a non-governmental organization whose members are national medical associations of the EU member countries, along with Switzerland, while observers are, at the moment , two EU candidate countries, Croatia and Turkey. Although the head office of the UEMS is located in Brussels, there is no direct relationship between the UEMS and EU. In 1962, the UEMS established Specialists Sections for each of the main disciplines practised in member countries. In the UEMS Sections, national organizations of each specialty are represented with two delegates per country; Croatian delegates/observers are Prof. Jasna Lipozenčić and Assist. Prof. Branka Marinović. In 1993, an EU directive was issued concerning facilitation of free movement of doctors within EU and mutual recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications. As neither curricula nor the quality of training were regulated by the EU, this became a major task for the UEMS. Besides this, there is also the need of different control bodies that could guarantee that the level of training in recognized centers meets the established standards. Furthermore, the quality of medical specialist practice and continuing medical education should be at the same level in all EU and UEMS member countries. All this requires 'harmonization' within Europe, which has also become a major task of UEMS. To facilitate this process, the central UEMS organization in Brussels has created few charters. First was the Charter on training of medical specialists in the European Community in 1993; in this Charter there are five chapters common to all specialties, followed by the very important Chapter 6 that provides information on special training requirements for a specific specialty, which is produced by each specialist Section. Second one was the Charter on continuing medical education in EU, created in 1994; the UEMS Dermatology and Venereology Section adapted this charter according to the situation in dermatology and vene-reology, and formed CME Guidelines in Derma-tovenereology which were completed in January 1999. To support these guidelines, in 2000 UEMS formed European …