Ten weeks of internship of the 6th year students in the departments of internal medicine is a final part of preceding 3.5 years of internal medicine study. The goal is to increase the knowledge of examination methods and therapeutic possilibilities of internal diseases as well as to develop some practical skills.
The internship teaches the students how to work as junior doctors in acute internal medicine ward. They should participate in daily working activities in the ward, like regular meetings, ward rounds, seminars etc. Under supervision of senior physicians they should take care of the hospitalized patients since admission to discharge. Students should practise following activities: history taking, physical examination, making initial and differential diagnoses, choosing appropriate diagnostic methods, suggesting therapeutic options, preparing case summary or discharge report.
The practice should optimally include a wide range of medical specialties, e.g. cardiology, pneumology, nephrology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, diabetology, endocrinology, haematology and intensive care in internal medicine. The students may observe (or even perform under supervision) the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures (blood drawing, blood gas analysis, measuring blood glucose level with glucometer, blood pressure measurement, ECG recording and interpretation, peripheral vein cannulation, central venous catheterization, intramuscular and intravenous injections, bladder catheterization, thoracocentesis, paracentesis, nasogastric intubation, echocardiography, sonography etc).
Concurrently with practical activities, the students should develop their theoretical knowledge of internal medicine by studying current literature not only to prepare for state exam but also to adopt a principle of continuous medical education.