This past week I was in Internal Medicine with Matthew. This has been my favorite department so far, because I think it is closest to what I want to do. Since we are in a relatively small hospital they did not have some specialties such as infectious diseases, so internal medicine has a much wider range. I was able to spend some time in the ER doing consultations, watching lumbar punctures, and doing rounds with the doctors. We were able to spend a lot of time with medical students who were working in the internal medicine department and were able to learn more about how medical school works in Portugal. Basically med students take a test similar to the MCAT, and based on that score you are put in order to choose where you would like to work. At your scheduled time you show up to an office with a predetermined list of where you want to go, if none of those are available you choose somewhere else in a very limited amount of time. It is much less based in interviews that America and more about the grades you get. They also don't do an undergraduate degree, right out of high school they begin learning about medicine.
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