The Integrated Masters in Medicine (MIM) of the University of Algarve (UAlg) has, until December 22, open applications for the academic year 2021/22.
This course, centered on an innovative learning method, Problem Based Learning (PBL), includes clinical teaching from the 1st year and is intended only for graduate students.
For the edition of the academic year 2021/2022, the Integrated Masters in Medicine at the University of Algarve has 64 places available. This is the same number as last year, with the The objective, already assumed by Minister Manuel Heitor, involves, in the future, reaching 100 vacancies.
«After having managed to assert itself at the national and international level, the Integrated Masters in Medicine (MIM) has contributed in a very positive way to the establishment of doctors in the Algarve and to the improvement of the quality of healthcare and associated research, namely through the training of around 300 new doctors, of which around 37% currently work in the Algarve region», says UAlg.
The University highlights “the increase in the number of doctors holding a doctorate in the Algarve, which went from 2, in 2009, to more than 25, in 2020”.
The Medical Association has also publicly recognized the UAlg Medicine Course, namely by the incorporation of the attribution of the “Manuel Machado Macedo” prizes to the best students of the MIM-UAlg in the scope of the “Hippocratic Oath” ceremonies in Lisbon.
This recognition is also expressed by winning 1st place in the European Championship of Medical Simulation (2018) and by the classifications obtained in the exams for access to the medical specialty, with a UAlg graduate obtaining the best classification in the first edition of the National Access Test ( PNA), where the remaining finalists also obtained a higher national average.
UAlg highlights “also the examinations of the “European Board of Medical Assessors”, whose results of MIM students were above the population average of the participating universities: University of Helsinki, Finland; Maastricht University, Netherlands and David Tvildiani Medical University, Georgia».
The UAlg Integrated Master's in Medicine, created in 2008, was described by the then Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Mariano Gago, as «innovative in our country in pedagogical terms» not only because of the selection process allowing the entry of students already holders of the first cycle of university studies, but also for being based on a pedagogical model in an experimental tutorial regime, based on clinical case studies.
This course lasts for four years, its program is entirely based on Problem Based Learning (PBL) and includes clinical teaching from the 1st year. Although most of these characteristics are not innovative in themselves, given that other foreign medical schools apply them in one way or another, the integration of all of them in the same Medicine course is only verified at UAlg.
Another big difference in relation to other national medical courses is related to the selection criteria: in addition to having a degree, candidates are also submitted to a first phase of assessment of their cognitive and linguistic abilities and, to another, based on the evaluation of human values.
Early contact with General and Family Medicine (FGM) is another differentiating factor. Primary health care is the cornerstone for health promotion and disease control in societies such as Portuguese society. This course aims to educate future doctors for a broad approach to the person and the community.
«Contact with the patient from the first week of classes, tutored by a specialist in FGM in a 1:1 ratio, is the basis for preparing the doctor for any specialty, not just FGM», says Isabel Palmeirim, director of the course .
This was the first Master's Degree in Medicine created in Portugal, similarly to those that already existed in most developed countries, exclusively for students who have completed the first cycle of university studies.
Receiving more than 400 applications per year for just 32 vacancies (in the first 4 years), then 48, and now 64, this course has already trained close to 300 doctors. In addition to the Algarve region, these are found throughout the country and even in European countries, by most medical specialties, such as Neurosurgery, Cardiology, Maxillofacial Surgery, General and Family Medicine (FGM), Gastroenterology, Urology and Anesthesia.
Already with a good part of its faculty accredited in Medical Education by the European Association of Medical Education, the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UAlg has as one of its objectives the development of the Algarve region as an attractive place for the practice of Medicine and training of young doctors.
In this sense, the ABC-Algarve Biomedical Center was created, a consortium between the University of Algarve and the University Hospital Center of the Algarve, which aims to bring together researchers, students, health professionals and representatives of entities linked to education, training, scientific research and regional development, with the aim of improving health care.
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