MSc Medicine and Surgery (LM-41) – Rome (taught in English)

 Rome

English language

 6 years

The MSc in Medicine and Surgery is a six-year programme.

The programme’s mission is to educate medical practitioners with an international professional profile who take a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to health and disease issues. The education is community-focused and considers local and global health challenges, with a particular emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion. The programme also fosters a humanistic approach to medicine. The programme focuses not only on disease, but also on the whole person, considering it physically and mentally, as well as in its social context. The objectives to be achieved by the medical professionals we aim to train include:

• good interpersonal skills (communication skills);
• self-learning and self-assessment skills (continuing education);
• the ability to analyse and solve problems related to medical practice independently and to deliver good clinical practice based on scientific evidence (evidence-based medicine);
• the habit of constantly updating knowledge and skills; possession of the methodological and cultural foundations necessary for independently acquiring and critically evaluating new knowledge and skills (continuing professional development);
• good interdisciplinary and interprofessional working practice (interprofessional education);
• in-depth knowledge of the methodological principles required for an appropriate scientific research approach in the medical field, together with the ability to independently use information technology in clinical practice.

Types of teaching and training activities

Teaching methods:

• Formal teaching
  This form of teaching includes:

Lectures: a discussion of a specific topic identified by a title. Lectures are delivered by a tutor and may make use of IT and/or multimedia support. They are based on a predefined schedule and are given to students who are regularly enrolled in a specific year of the course. Students are divided into small groups.

Seminars: teaching activities that have the same main characteristics as lectures. Seminars are, however, held simultaneously by several lecturers with different areas of expertise. These seminars are recorded in each lecturer’s register of lectures. In the final period of the programme, when non-Italian students have acquired sufficient language skills, some courses may be taught in Italian.  Lectures are delivered by full and associate professors, researchers, and tutors.

• Non-formal teaching
  This interactive teaching activity is aimed at small groups of students and is coordinated by a tutor whose role is to help students acquire knowledge, skills, and behavioural models. Learning takes place mainly through problem analysis and mobilising the necessary methodological skills to solve problems and make decisions, as well as through direct, personal actions (gestural and relational) in practical exercises and/or attendance at clinical departments, clinics, local facilities, and research laboratories. The role of tutors may also be assigned to non-university staff with recognised qualifications in a specific training sector, in accordance with the recruitment procedures laid down in the university regulations.

A) Modules
Course modules are held by one or more lecturers, depending on the specific objectives assigned to the course. The specific objectives of each individual course, which are contained in the examination syllabuses, and their scheduling are proposed annually by the course lecturers before the start date of enrolment for the new academic year.

B) Vocational activities
Students are required to acquire specific professional skills in the fields of internal medicine, general surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as medical-surgical specialities, at facilities identified by the Faculty Council or the Programme Board, for a total of 60 ECTS credits. The role of tutors for training internships carried out at non-university facilities may be filled by highly qualified staff employed by the affiliated facility. Internships may also be carried out in developing countries.

C) Elective activities
The Programme Board organises elective teaching activities, which may consist of lectures, seminars, interactive courses in small groups, from which students choose their own options, until a total of 8 ECTS credits have been obtained. Each student independently chooses their elective activities from among those offered.

D) Training activities to prepare for the final examination
To be admitted to the final examination, students must prepare a dissertation under the guidance of a supervisor from the MSc in Medicine and Surgery. This activity is referred to as a ‘dissertation-related internship’. Students may carry out their dissertation-related internship at any Faculty facility or at an affiliated facility. It may also be carried out at non-affiliated facilities, under the responsibility of the supervisor. Dissertation supervisors are full or associate professors, researchers, or tutors.

Language of instruction of the programme: English 

Language of instruction for practical activities (internship): Italian.

Head of School: Professor Barbara Tavazzi

Programme Director: Antonella Palombo ([email protected])