In Portugal Medical Internship is regulated by a specific legal regime established by Decree-Law n.º 86/2015, of 21 May, and by the Medical Internship Regulation, approved on the Administrative Rule n.º. 224-B / 2015, of 29 July. ACSS (Central Administration of the Health System) is responsible for the general coordination of the Medical Internship (see specific area in Portuguese).
This Internship consists of two phases: Common Year and Specialized Training. Both are attended at health services and establishments of the National Health Service, with training capability.
The practice of medicine is recognized after the successful completion of the Common Year.
The admission to the Medical Internship is done exclusively through a recruitment procedure, opened in the third quarter of each year, meeting the rules and deadlines established in the opening notice. As an example, the opening notice to the 2017 Medical Internship may be consulted (Notice n.º 10879-A/2016, of 31 August, amended by the Notice n.º 14511-A/2016, published on the 18 November).
As to documentation, deadlines, publication of lists of candidates as well as their classifications, are comprised in that notice, as well as available locations to take the exam, which tend to be set in the district capitals with the highest demographic density.
Registration is done on an electronic platform, by completing a form in which candidates are requested to fulfil some information, namely, the identification of the medical specialty and the preferred location to take the exam. Both exam and registration are necessarily made in person. Once completed, the form should be sent by post (registered mail) to ACSS, accompanied by a copy of the required documentation.
The National Serial Examination is held in the fourth quarter of each year, in the location designated by the candidate. The bibliography is published in advance on ACSS´s website.
Once the National Serial Examination is carried out, the application is considered accepted and the candidate moves forward the next phase, usually held in December: the choice of health establishments / services to carry out the Common Year. Candidates’ ordering is published on the same electronic platform, within the period indicated by ACSS.
Then, all candidates are sorted according to the classification of the academic certificate and the ordering achieved at the National Serial Examination. Once the final list of candidates is posted (at ACSS´s website), the initiation of the Common Year normally occurs on the first working day of the civil year (generally on the 2nd of January).
Intern doctors are bound by an Employment Contract in Public Functions. This contractual relationship entails the application of the medical internship regime. All that is regulated by the Law n.º 35/2014 of 20 June.
As to the Specialized Training, the selection process takes place in June, corresponding to the year following the opening notice. The candidates are ranked according to their classification in the National Serial Examination, using as a tie-breaking criteria, the classification of the academic certificate.
When a vacancy is obtained, the entrance is made in January, assuming that the Common Year is concluded at the end of December. If any unforeseen event occurs that prevents the conclusion of the Common Year in the designated period, and if justified, the intern doctor may postpone the admission to the Specific Training, as it is established under the legislation.
There are currently 48 areas of specialization, which are listed in the annex to the Medical Internship Regulation (to which should also be added the Intensive Care Medicine, whose training program was approved in 2016, after the implementation of this Regulation).
Each specialty has a training program, legally approved, which includes the length, program content, sequence of internships, methods and evaluation system. In order to adjust the specialties to the constant innovations of Medicine, these training programs are reviewed and updated periodically, which contributes to the development of highly professional, multidisciplinary and committed medical personnel.
Further information on this subject can be requested through the following e-mail address: im@acss.min-saude.pt
