[Postgraduate training for doctors between the wars in Poland, 1918-1939].

In the years between the Two World Wars in Poland, there have been made some meaningful changes in the approach towards the postgraduate education of the physicians. The widespread conviction about the need of widening the practical knowledge, was replaced in 1930 by a law, which made a year-long hospital practice obligatory for doctors who have accomplished their medical studies. The completion of this obligatory training was the condition of starting an independent professional practice. The aim of this complementary education, which comprised the basic branches of medicine, and which were conducted under the eyes of experienced doctors, was the complement of the theoretical academic knowledge by practical skills. The introduction of a law, which made a one-year-long postgraduate hospital practice obligatory, is undoubtedly one of the important achievements of the period between the Two World Wars, in the realisation of the idea of modern and complete education of the physicians in Poland.