Medical Internship and Clinical Rotation in China
Medical Education in China like in other different countries like United States, U.K, France etc, generally ends with a period of practical training known as medical internship. A student under this program is called medical intern, this term is used to describe a physician in training who has completed required coursework in medical school but does not yet have a full license to practice Medicine unsupervised. Clinical rotations during this period depend on the hospital structure and staff availability in each department.
In China, MBBS and BDS takes 6 years including internship, for foreign students five years is for the coursework and one year for internship. After completing internship program a student graduate and obtain a medical degree, this not give him/her right to start practicing medicine in their country. In some countries a graduate medical student needs to practice under supervision at least for one year, before pass an exam in order to get full medical license. In other countries a student who undergoes medical education in China pass only exam including theory and clinical practices in order to get medical license in their own country.
A new structure in most Medical universities in China, gives a student a right to chose whether they may want to do their internship in one of affiliated hospital of his/her Medical university in China or at home country or elsewhere. The agreement must be between Medical schools here in China, student, and the hospital in which a student want to exercise his/her internship because during this period an intern is still considered as a student. It is university responsibility to check whether a chosen hospital meet all required standards, and have all facilities which could help an intern to benefit more during the internship program out of China. Internship is compulsory requirement for a medical student to be graduated, during one year medical internship full tuition fees must be provided as usual and in case the internship is out of China a student must payee processing fee.
In Chinese Medical Schools, during internship program a student undergoes through extensive hospital activities and do basic hospital work while supervised by both medical staffs and residents. This period is divided is such way that a medical student rotate in different departments such as Internal medicine, General Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, Anesthesia, Orthopedics, Dermatology etc. Before the end of medical internship a student may choose area to gain strong experience where he/she can spend longer period compared to the other areas in some Medical Universities here in China.
The period for rotation in major specialties is between 1-2 months in most University Teaching Hospitals in China. For example the students at Anhui Medical University during their medical internship at Anhui Medical University first and second affiliated hospitals, clinical rotations is scheduled in such a way that Medical intern spend one to two weeks in some major specialties like General Surgery, Internal medicine and in minor specialists such as dermatology, ophthalmology, infectious diseases and psychiatry, 1-2 months in Gynecology & Obstetrics and Pediatrics.
After the rotations an interns sit for exams including practical, oral, and writing to ensure that they have get enough clinical skills during internship period, this apply for both those who performed their internship in China or those who choose to do it out of China. The examination fees are supposed to be paid by a student for outside China interns.
To facilitate the communication between patients and intern, all students in MBBS and BDS program study Chinese language as a course all along their five years eventhough the Medical program is taught in English Medium, five years Chinese course gives a student advanced skills in Chinese language where they can easily communicate with patients, most of the students like to pass HSK exam to prove their knowledge in Chinese language and for future use.
Each University which offers MBBS, BDS and other Medical Programs in China has a Teaching hospital or affiliated hospital to enable interns to broaden their medicine and health care experience in different areas. The hospitals have modern facilities more enough to experienced western medical practice. Skilled and experienced Doctors from the hospitals provide practical stills to the interns during their rotation in all departments. During clinical rotation periods, students got a chance to acquire a lot of skills in each clinical area, and perform some clinical activities means that an intern can treat patients under supervision.
