Fax. +358 8 315 4139
Aapistie 5 A
P.O.Box 5000
90014 University of Oulu
Basic education (medical students)
The Department of Medicine contributes to the educational process during the third and the sixth year of medical school. During the third year the department is actively involved in the introduction to clinical medicine. During the sixth year diagnostic reasoning and medical decision making are emphasized in a short course. Clinical experience and learning are provided by a combination of lectures, seminars or mini-conferences, tutor sessions, hands-on teaching and patient activities. Lectures follow the standard didactic format, and are meant to be a starting point for students who then supplement their knowledge with independent study and small group discussions led by an experienced clinical teacher.
During the third year all medical students rotate through the department in inpatient wards. These training periods are two weeks in duration and take place at a variety of clinical sites. They offer intensive inpatient experience where the skills of history taking, physical examination and case presentation are learned. During the spring of the third year, clinical skills are further refined, and diagnostic decision-making and therapeutics are learned. In addition, visits to emergency room give medical students the opportunity to be involved in the initial presentation and early management of emergent and urgent medical problems.
Education for specialty degrees
The Department of Medicine maintains a post-graduate training programme at the resident level in internal medicine. In addition, there are programmes in all specialty areas closely related to internal medicine, including cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, haematology, nephrology, rheumatology, infectious diseases, and pulmonary diseases. These programmes are available to those physicians having completed basic internal medicine residency training ("common trunk").
The "common trunk" can be characterized as an immersion in bedside clinical medicine, producing a physician with excellent clinical skills and knowledge in internal medicine. This is accomplished by intensive and abundant patient exposure, thoughtful teaching and supervision, collegial learning, and plentiful primary responsibility. Attending rounds, with experienced senior physicians give immediate feedback to improve clinical skills. Meetings, journal clubs and discussions are held almost on a daily basis. The residents are encouraged to read about the disorders they are treating.
Continuing medical education (CME)
The Department of Medicine supports lifelong continuing education after the conclusion of all formal training. These include:
- Weekly seminars; real-time video transmission by ISDN telecommunication to all central hospitals in northern Finland.
- Interaction between primary care and hospital (GPs visits to the Dept., hoitoketju etc.)
- Theoretical courses organized in collaboration with specialist associations and industry.
- Implementation of consensus reports etc.