Doctor of dental medicine specialist

Doctor of dental medicine can start performing dental medicine services after being entered in the register of doctors, managed by the Medical Chamber of Slovenia. The Medical Chamber of Slovenia manages the medical register as a database administrator in the field of health-care.

The entry in the register is performed upon the request of the doctor of dental medicine who fulfils the required conditions. The Chamber issues a decision in the administrative procedure on entry in the register or the deletion from the register. A doctor of dental medicine submits a complete application for entry in the register at the Chamber.

A doctor of dental medicine attaches the documentation proving the fulfilment of conditions for entry in the register. A doctor of dental medicine does not need to attach evidence from official records of state authorities, local self-government bodies and holders of public authority. The official person can acquire such data ex officio.

The deletion from the register is performed:

• if the doctor of dental medicine makes a written application stating that they do not want to be entered in the register;
• if the registration is not mandatory;
• after completing occasional medical service;
• if the doctor of dental medicine does not fulfil the obligations as the member of the Chamber based on the decision of the executive board;
• upon the request of the Chamber's arbitration board.

A person awarded the professional title of doctor of dental medicine to whom the decision on the equivalence of the title obtained abroad with the Slovenian professional title of doctor of dental medicine was issued in the procedure of recognition as per the act governing the recognition and evaluation of education may be employed as an intern. The internship lasts one year and ends with a professional examination.

An intern performs the following tasks:

• is informed on the management and organisation of work, operations of the public health service and safety at work;
• is informed on theoretical and practical aspects of social medicine, epidemiology and hygiene;
• undergoes practical training in professional areas of dentistry.

Doctors of dental medicine – interns can perform medical services within their specialisation only if guided and under the responsibility of the mentor.

The purpose of internship is that the intern is informed on all work tasks under the prescribed programme, i.e. in accordance with the professional education, and is getting prepared for the professional exam and subsequent independent work.

Internship is implemented in accordance with the programme determined by the minister of health and encompasses content that applies to the intern's education, as well as practical and theoretical knowledge. An intern must work full-time during internship.

Internship is performed in health-care institutions, at private health-care services providers and in other institutions that perform health-care activities and fulfil the prescribed conditions for internship.

The employer is responsible for appropriate implementation of internship. The employer must determine a mentor prior to the start of internship and submit the internship programme and professional exam programme. Internship is implemented under direct leadership and supervision of a mentor who is responsible for the implementation of an individual internship programme.

The intern's practical knowledge is consistently tested by the employer where the internship is implemented. Internship is concluded with a practical exam that is the condition for admitting the intern for the professional exam.

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Trainees with secondary professional school education must pass professional examination at health-care institutions authorised for implementation of professional examinations by the minister.

Trainees with short-cycle higher professional, higher professional or university education must pass professional examination at the ministry, competent for health.

The professional examination programme is determined by the minister and encompasses:

•  expert contents in the professional field, except for medical practitioners;
• first aid – organisation and providing aid in normal and emergency situations, except for medical practitioners;
• emergency medicine for medical practitioners;
• social medicine except for medical practitioners and masters of pharmacy;
• social pharmaceuticals for masters of pharmacy and pharmaceutical techniques;
• the basics of legal regulation in the field of health activities, health care and health insurance.

The ministry manages the list of legal resources and professional literature that help the trainee at the preparation for the professional examination. The list is available at the head office and the website of the ministry.

The trainee submits an application for passing the professional examination with their employer. The employer sends the application for a worker with secondary professional education to the authorised health-care institution, for the worker with short-cycle higher professional, higher professional or university education they send the application to the Ministry of Health.

Volunteering trainees with secondary professional education submit an application for passing the professional examination at the authorised institution, volunteering trainees with short-cycle higher professional, higher professional or university education lodges the application at the ministry.

The trainee must be notified on the date and place of the professional examination at least 14 days before the date of the examination. The professional examination is in oral form, except for the emergency medicine subject which is composed of written, practical and oral part. The commission assesses the entire success of the trainee based on grades in the individual subjects.

A trainee who passed the examination receives confirmation on the passed professional exam.

A trainee who did not pass one or two exam subjects can resit the exam for these subjects after one month has passed. A trainee who did not pass more than one half of exam subjects, didn’t pass the entire exam and must resit the entire exam. A trainee who did not pass the professional exam cannot execute their profession. The costs of professional examinations are covered by:

•  the employer who applied the trainee for the professional exam or
• the trainee if they are unemployed or
• if the trainee or volunteering trainee applied themselves for the exam.

The cost of the professional exam for health-care workers and health-care co-workers amounts to EUR 200.00. The cost of the professional exam for one subject amounts to EUR 50.00. The cost of the professional exam in Emergency medicine for medical practitioners amounts to EUR 150.00.

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A medical practitioner who passed the professional exam can only be specialised for a certain branch of medicine. Specialisation is concluded with a specialist exam.

Medical specialisation is a form of post-graduate professional training, which is required for additional and profound acquisition of knowledge and skill in one of the medical or dentistry branches.

Specialised education for an individual type of specialisation is acquired during time-determined training and with successful completion of the specialist exam.

The part of internship that applies to the specialisation programme is partially or entirely considered in the specialisation programme of a medical practitioner.

The specialisation contents are prepared by the Slovenian Medical Association and adopted by the Medical Chamber of Slovenia with consent from the minister. The programme of individual specialisations determines:

• the scope of knowledge and skills that a medical trainee specialist must master until the end of specialisation;
• the content and duration of the implementation of individual parts of specialisation;
• other contents and procedures for performing individual specialisations.

Specialisation is approved by the Medical Chamber of Slovenia based on a public tender that is implemented for individual areas and determined with regulations on health insurance – regions. With this public tender, the Chamber publishes specialisations for the needs of public health services for individual specialist areas and regions twice in a year. The tender is published on the Chamber's website, the notification is published in the Chamber's newsletter Isis.

Specialist training is implemented at authorised medical services providers in the region for which the public tender was implemented. It is implemented outside the region if there is no authorised services provider for that specific specialisation or if the authorised services provider has no available job post for such training.

The medical trainee specialist is employed for the period of specialisation at a public health institution that is determined by the Medical Chamber of Slovenia, i.e. in the region for which specialisation is performed.

The application for the tender is sent by registered post to the Chamber's address and must contain:

• the evidence on concluded studies at the faculty of medicine in the Republic of Slovenia or the certificate on academic recognition of a foreign medical diploma or the decision on the equality of a foreign title with Slovenian professional title doctor of medicine or doctor of dentistry, acquired in the recognition procedure under the law on the recognition and assessment of education;
• evidence of professional exam, passed in Slovenia, or certificate showing that at least two thirds of the internship programmes was performed in the Republic of Slovenia until the date of the submission of the application;
• statement that the candidate will accept the offer from the public health services provider for first employment as a specialist after finished specialisation in the region, whereby this institution is usually a public health institution, for which the application was submitted, i.e. for a single time period of specialisation;
• medical certificate on preliminary preventive health examination for the specialist post, performed at an authorised occupational, traffic and sport medicine practitioner;
• other certificates required for applying for an individual specialisation (valid family medicine licence, valid paediatrics licence and similar).

The selection criteria are:

• the average grade in undergraduate studies;
• the opinion of previous mentors and recent achievements and references;
• the opinion of the selection commission based on a personal interview with the candidate.

Based on the proposal of the competent official person, the president of the Chamber issues one decision on specialisation for all candidates that have applied for a certain specialisation in a specific region. A trainee specialist can apply for the approval of other specialisation only one time after the specialisation is approved.

Specialisation is implemented at authorised services providers by ensuring the trainee specialist the possibility to acquire the required knowledge and skills of a certain medical or dentistry speciality.

Medical trainee specialists can perform medical services within their specialisation only if guided and under the responsibility of the mentor. During specialisation, a medical trainee specialist can independently perform the work and services for which appropriate knowledge, experience and skills were acquired which is confirmed by a signature of the mentor on the medical trainee specialist's sheet. A medical trainee specialist is responsible for performing such work and services. Mentors are appointed by the Medical Chamber of Slovenia upon the proposal of the authorised specialisation provider.

Details

Specialisation (residency) is followed by the specialist exam. The specialist exam can be taken by a medical trainee specialist candidate who implements the required specialisation programme.

The medical trainee specialist addresses the application for the specialist exam to the Medical Chamber of Slovenia. The application must include an appropriately completed sheet by the medical trainee specialist, the statement of the main mentor on the level of knowledge of the candidate for the specialist exam and confirmation of how the trainee specialist has acquired their knowledge, experience and skills for independent performance of work and services during specialisation. The Chamber approves that the candidate takes the specialist exam by issuing a decision.

If the medical trainee specialist fulfils all the conditions for performing the specialist exam, the Chamber issues a decision determining the exam commission and the time and place for taking the specialist exam. If the specialisation programme does not determine otherwise, the specialist exam is taken at an authorised service provider.

The specialist exam entails the theoretical and practical part. A three-member exam commission has a president and two members and decides with a majority vote. The candidate's success is evaluated with "passed" or "failed". If the candidate exhibits exceptional and above average knowledge, the exam commission can evaluate their knowledge with honours.

If the candidate does not pass the specialist exam, the exam commission can suggest to the Chamber to extend the specialisation and set other special requirements for continuation. The specialisation can be extended for a minimum of three months to a maximum of two years.

The candidate who passes the specialist exam receives a certificate from the Chamber for passing the specialist exam, thereby granting the title medical specialist of suitable speciality. The certificate on the passed specialist exam is signed by the president of the Education Council or, for doctors of dentistry, the president of the Dentistry Board, the president of the Chamber and the president of the exam commission.

The Chamber issues a licence for performing a certain speciality based on the certificate on the passed specialist exam and based on the application of the medical specialist.

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A medical practitioner or doctor of dental medicine (hereinafter referred to as a doctor) with appropriate education and qualification and who is entered in the register of doctors, is awarded a licence by the Medical Chamber of Slovenia. A licence is a public document proving professional qualification of the doctor for independent performance of medical services in a certain professional field.

The licence is granted for a period of seven years. The licence is granted after performed specialisation and in dentistry, after internship and passing of the professional exam.

The doctor who passed the specialist exam in the Republic of Slovenia and who fulfils all the conditions for receiving the licence, is granted the licence ex officio. The Chamber grants the doctor who fulfils all the prescribed conditions a decision on awarding the licence within 30 days of passing the specialist exam. The licence document is issued within 8 days after the decision on awarding the licence becomes final.

A doctor can independently perform medical services in the field for which the licence was granted. Medical services may be provided by specialist doctors, doctors of dental medicine and specialist doctors of dental medicine in accordance with their professional qualifications, provided they fulfil the mentioned conditions.

Specialist doctors may perform a health-care service in accordance with their professional qualification if they fulfil all conditions and have been awarded the title of Doctor of Medicine with the indication of a specialisation. Doctors of dental medicine may perform a health-care service in accordance with their professional qualification if they fulfil all conditions and have been awarded the title of Doctor of Dental Medicine or Specialist Doctor of Dental Medicine with the indication of a specialisation.

The Medical Chamber of Slovenia can temporarily or permanently withdraw the licence from a doctor due to major professional deficiency or error at work, i.e. in accordance with the Chamber's acts. Permanent withdrawal of the licence can be imposed due to major professional deficiency or error at work if such conduct of the doctor caused permanent severe health consequences or even a patient's death.

Temporary withdrawal of the licence up to a maximum period of five years can be imposed if:

• the doctor is referred to additional professional training during the licence renewal procedure but did not pass the professional qualification test until the expiry of the licence;
• it is established that the doctor seriously endangers the health or life of a patient;
• the court issued a final or other decision to temporarily prohibit or in any other way disable the performance of an activity or profession the doctor performs;
• it is established that the doctor does not fulfil other conditions for performing their activity;
• it is established after granting the licence that the doctor did not acquire the evidence on fulfilling the conditions in a legitimate way or if the doctor does not speak Slovenian, or, where it is appropriate, Italian and Hungarian, at their work with patients.

A doctor who wants to acquire the licence must fulfil the obligations of the members of the Medical Chamber of Slovenia and may not perform complementary and alternative medical services.

A doctor who doesn’t pass the professional qualification test or does not take it in the determined period must attend professional training in the appropriate professional field at their own expense along with regular work. If the doctor fails the professional qualification test for the second time or if they don’t respond to the request for taking the exam for the second time, the Chamber withdraws the licence for independent work to such a doctor.

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