Medicine and Surgery

Graduates must have the ability to integrate knowledge and manage the complexity, as well as make judgements based on limited or incomplete information, including reflections on social and ethical responsibility connected with the application of their knowledge and judgements. Thus they must be able to: Critical Thinking and Research: 1) Demonstrate a critical approach, constructive scepticism, resourcefulness, and a research-oriented attitude in professional activities. 2) Understand the power and limitations of the scientific method including accuracy and validity of scientific information in establishing the causation, treatment and prevention of disease. 3) Use personal judgements for analytical and critical problem solving and seek out information rather than to wait to be given. 4) Identify, formulate and solve patients’ problems using scientific thinking and based on obtained and correlated information from different sources. 5) Understand the role of complexity, uncertainty and probability in decisions in medical practice. 6) Formulate hypotheses, collect and critically evacuate data for the solution of problems. Professional Values, Attitudes, Behaviours and Ethics: 1) Recognition of the essential elements of the medical profession, including moral and ethical principles and legal responsibilities underlying the profession. 2) Professional values which include excellence, altruism, responsibility, compassion, empathy, accountability, honesty and integrity, and a commitment to scientific methods. 3) An understanding that each physician has an obligation to promote, protect and enhance these elements for the benefit of patients, the profession and society at large. 4) Recognition that good medical practice depends on a mutual understanding and relationship between the doctor, patient and the family with respect for the patient’s welfare, cultural diversity, beliefs and autonomy. 5) An ability to apply the principles of moral reasoning and decision-making to conflicts within and between ethical, legal and professional issues including those raised by economic constrains, commercialisation of health care, and scientific advances. 6) Self-regulation and a recognition of the need for continuous self-improvement with an awareness of personal limitations including limitation of one’s medical knowledge. 7) Respect for colleagues and other health care professionals and the ability to foster a positive collaborative relationship with them. 8) Recognition of the moral obligation to provide end of life care, including palliation of symptoms. 9) Recognition of ethical and medical issues in patient’ documentation, plagiarism, confidentiality and ownership of intellectual property. 10) Ability to effectively plan and efficiently manage one’s own time and activities to cope with uncertainty, and the ability to adapt to change. 11) Personal responsibility for the care of the individual patient.

Graduates must know to clearly and unambiguously communicate their conclusions, knowledge and the rationale behind them to specialist and lay counterparts, as well as – with the procedures required by the circumstances – to their patients. Thus they must be able to: Communication skills 1) Listen attentively to elicit and synthesise relevant information about all problems and understanding of their content. 2) Apply communication skills to facilitate understanding with patients and their families and to enable them to undertake decisions as equal partners. 3) Communicate with colleagues, faculty, the community, other sectors and the media. 4) Interact with other professionals involved in patient care through effective teamwork. 5) Demonstrate basic skills and positive attitudes towards teaching others. 6) Demonstrate sensitivity to cultural and personal factors that improve interactions with patients and the community. 7) Communicate effectively both orally and in writing. 8) Create and maintain good medical records. 9) Synthesise and present information appropriate to the needs of the audience, and discuss achievable and acceptable plans of action that address the issues of priority to the individual and community.

Graduates must have developed those learning skills which allow them to continue to study for the most part in self-guided manner or independently. Thus they must be able to: Management of Information 1) Search, collect, organise and interpret health and biomedical information from different databases and sources. 2) Retrieve patient-specific information from a clinical data system. 3) Use information and communication technology to assist in diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive measures, and for surveillance and monitoring health status. 4) Understand application and limitations of information technology. 5) Manage records of own practice for analysis and improvement.