Credits

The University of Padua organizes and hosts daily congresses, seminars, conferences: participation, where explicitly stated, in some of these initiatives is valid for obtaining the training credits required by the individual professional Orders for their members. Each Order, in fact, generally requires a minimum number of credits to be achieved at regular intervals in order to certify the professional updating path. Credits can be obtained by participating in training events or through publications.

The principle became binding with Decree-Law 138/2011 (converted into Law 248/2011), which established the obligation for professionals to follow permanent continuing education pathways, on the basis of regulations issued by the Orders, which must provide for sanctions in the event of non-compliance.

For some time, however, ECM (continuing medical education) has been mandatory, a professional development program for doctors and healthcare professionals. Legislative Decree 502/92 requires participation in continuing education activities as a necessary requirement to work in the National Health Service or in accredited private healthcare facilities. The ECM system requires the achievement of a predetermined number of training credits distributed over a multi-year basis.

The rules on the specific number of credits required of each professional and the methods for obtaining them can be found on the website of the relevant professional Order.