M a r c h
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Workshop on Access to
Medical Training in Europe 2013
From July 22nd to 26th 2013, the second edition of the Workshop on Access to Medical Training in Europe (WAMTE) was organized by PorMSIC-Portugal and took place in Lisbon. During those five days, nine European medical students discussed several topics regarding access to medical internship not only in Europe, but also in other countries, with a special focus on the European Directive 2005/36/EC. WAMTE’s program included plenary sessions, small working groups, workshops and also a very special social program that aimed to promote Portuguese traditions through an interactive experience among the participants. The first plenary session was about Access to Medical Internship and counted with the World Young Doctors’ Organization (WYDO) and the European Junior Doctors (EJD). A joint project between WYDO and HelMSIC-Greece, the Residency Database, initiated in 2002, was presented during this session. It’s an online database with practical information to be used by young doctors interested in completing their residency training outside their own country. The goal is to be coordinated by a network of medical students and young doctors who gather the information for their countries maintain it up-to-date.
On the fourth day, over fifty Portuguese medical students joined WAMTE to attend the second and third plenary sessions, on Mobility and Recognition in Europe and European Directive 2005/36/CE and Mobility and Recognition beyond European Boundaries respectively. Some distinguished national and international speakers enriched the discussions: • Dr. Madalena Patrício: President of AMEE (Association for Medical Education in Europe), Executive Board member of WFME (World Federation for Medical Education) and BEME (Best Evidence in Medical Education); • Dr. Bernard Maillet: head of delegation for Belgium in CPME (Standing Committee of European Doctors), EFMA (European Forum of Medical Associations) www.ifmsa.org
Lúcia Moleiro
NMO: PorMSIC-Portugal University of Coimbra, Portugal lucia.moleiro@anem.pt
and WMA (World Medical Association); • Dr. Milagros García Barbero: Executive Committee member of the Spanish Association for Medical Education; • Dr. Konstanty Radziwill: immediate past President of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME); • Dr. David Gordon: member of WFME (World Federation for Medical Education); • Dr. Amélia Ferreira: Coordinator of the Medical Education Centre of the Medical School of the University of Porto; • Dr. Bogdan Covaliu: General Manager ‘Careers in White’ and Assistant Professor in Public Health in University of Medicine and Pharmacy ‘Iuliu Hatieganu’, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. At the end, it was agreed that specialties’ recognition in European countries continue to be a non-consensual issue and many problems still exist. European curricula, assessment and time versus competence based qualifications were hot topics concerning mobility inside Europe. The importance given to professional quality assurance is, however, notorious. Mobility outside Europe was also discussed: main motivations to choose another country to work, problems related to professional recognition and the role of recruitment companies were the main issues in focus.