A review of professional codes and standards for doctors in the UK, USA and Canada

This paper examines professional codes of medical bodies which perform the de facto regulatory functions of certification or licensure in the UK, USA and Canada. The choice of these three developed countries with long-established healthcare systems allowed us to focus on a particular set of commonalities and differences. Our aim was first to assess how patient-centred the codes are, and whether some are more patient-focused than others and can therefore serve as models of good practice.