Young Internist group in Spain
Spanish Young Internists are integrated in what we call “Grupo de Formación” (Training Group), and it belongs to the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI). The coordinator of the group is usually a young consultant with high interest in Internal Medicine training. A group of young internists, including residents and young consultants, work with the coordinator in different activities throughout the year: They prepare the Spanish Summer School of Internal Medicine, the Young Internists activities in the national congress, etc. Currently, our group has officially 383 members registered, but all young internists of SEMI are invited to participate in our activities.
At present time, the group is preparing next Summer School that will be held in Alicante in June, and we are coordinating the activities for the National Congress of Internal Medicine. There is also a project to prepare a mobile app for Young Internists of Spain, with calculators, drug information and medical data.
Training in Internal Medicine in Spain
In Spain, the only way to become a specialist after medical school is through the MIR exam: a 225 questions test including all general medicine. According to your personal score, you get to choose your specialty and hospital. Internal Medicine has a 5 year program. After passing your 5 years, you become a consultant.
Currently, there is a project of creating a “common trunk”: Internal Medicine, Surgery, Laboratory and Psychiatry, and after that you could get a subspecialty. Nowadays, we still don’t know when it will start working.
Moving to Spain to train or work in Internal Medicine
If you come to Spain for postgraduate training, you will have to homologate your Medical School Diploma. The process is much easier for European Union members.
If you are EU member, you can find information here:
http://www.msssi.gob.es/profesionales/formacion/recoTitulosEuro/profesionales.htm
If you are a non-EU member: you can find more information here:
http://www.msssi.gob.es/profesionales/formacion/recoTitulosExtra.htm
Once you have your Medical School diploma homologated, you can access to the MIR exam and enter in the Residency program.
The responsible legal authority is the Ministry of Health (http://www.msssi.gob.es/) and the official College of Physicians (http://www.cgcom.es/). The requirements to get an official licence and the restrictions vary depending on the countries. You can find more information in their webpages.
This page has been prepared by Pablo Demelo Rodríguez, Young Internists assembly representative for Spain, May 2015.