The main aim of the Single-Cycle Degree Programme in Medicine and Surgery is to provide medical graduates with the knowledge and skills required to practice a modern kind of Medicine; they must be able to incorporate health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation into their practice, and they must be able to do so in an international context as well. The programme curriculum delivers these goals thanks to the following features:
- Basic medical disciplines are taught in an integrated fashion thoroughout the different branches of knowledge. Integrated teaching has a two-fold advantage: on the one hand, it leads students to develop a unified vision of a complex system; on the other hand, it helps professors organise their teaching activities with an increased focus on the relevance of each learning objective within the wider frame of human biology;
- Medical Humanities, communicative skills, health promotion, health and disease concepts in the globalised world, community medicine, and intercultural mediation are prominent topics of the curriculum;
- Students begin practical learning activities early on, developing increasingly complex skills as they progress through the programme. Years 1 and 2 feature clinical clerkships; year 2 clerkships allow students to learn to approach the physicall examination of patients through elements of medical semeiotics;
- A substantial number of ECTS credits is dedicated to clinical clerkships. In addition, a variety of teaching modalities such as laboratories, practical classes, e-learning, small group activities, interdisciplinary seminars, problem-based learning, discussion of clinical cases and clinical guidelines are designed to elicit the active participation of students;
- Critical and scientific analysis skills are developed and refined systematically during the programme. Graduates will then be able to assess unknown concepts and situations in a critical manner, and to participate in national and international clinical research teams;
- The use of English as the official language allows graduates to become proficient in English medical terminology, facilitating their access to medical literature, international meetings and collaborations. Graduates will be able to communicate better with foreign patients, and to interact with colleagues from different countries for clinical and research purposes. The English language programme may also attract students from abroad, creating a multicultural student community which will help foster communication skills essential to the medical profession. Student and staff mobility to/from foreign Universities is also expected to benefit, helping familiarise graduates with international settings.
The 6-year Degree Programme contains 360 ECTS credits, as prescribed by Italian and European law, of which 64 are dedicated to clinical clerkships.
During Year 1, students are introduced to basic concepts of the medical profession (Medical Humanities); basic knowledge of biochemistry, physics, tissue and molecular organisation of organs; and a basic life support clinical clerkship to begin their approach to clinical training.
Year 2 focuses on morphology and the normal functioning of organs; anatomy, physiology and biochemistry are taught as integrated disciplines,progressing towards semeiotics (the ability to perform a medical examination and to discern between normal and abnormal conditions) and the development of basic clinical skills.
From Year 3 to Year 5, teaching focuses on clinical skills through the attendance of formal lessons, seminars and clinical clerkships which integrate diagnosis, clinical and surgical skills, pathological anatomy, and pharmacology.
Year 6 focuses on clinical reasoning based on previously acquired knowledge and on the scientific method; this is applied also in emergency situations.
Finally, the elaboration of a thesis represents an important educational opportunity for students to show their critical thinking skills and their ability to apply the scientific method.