POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS – for FCP(SA) / Master of Medicine(MMed), PhD
- A departmental postgraduate committee meets regularly to coordinate the academic program for medical registrars
- Clinical supervision and training takes place on a daily basis during outpatient clinics and ward rounds
- A weekly post graduate seminar is held on Mondays from 08h00 to 09h00
- A weekly department Grand Round – on Wednesdays from 12h15 to 13h15
- Twice weekly clinical teaching rounds are held at IALCH
- A FCP Part 2 preparatory series of tutorials is held twice a year
- Neurology Teaching on Friday afternoon.
Exit examinations are conducted through national examinations that are convened by the Department on behalf of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. The exit professional degree obtained is the Fellowship of the College of Physicians of South Africa, FCP (SA). In order to register as a Specialist Physician with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, there is a mandatory requirement to complete a Master of Medicine degree with the hosting institution, i.e. University of KwaZulu-Natal in this instance.
The clinical training through the DOH platform contributes to the training as a Specialist physician. The MMed degree, as a course work Master’s program, is made up of 75% of the clinical training and 25% of a research project.
Since the training is occurring on the clinical platform, the provision of clinical services in the public health sector and production of Specialists are inseparable.
The cutbacks of posts for training Specialists in KwaZulu-Natal has resulted in severe disruption in provision of clinical services and production of Specialists has been severely reduced. The contribution to reduction in Specialists is not only related to cut-backs in posts but, potential candidates have a choice to take up posts in other provinces where work conditions are much better than in KwaZulu-Natal.
Postgraduate training is also provided at sub-Specialist level, which is geared at training those that are registered Specialist physicians.
While Specialist and sub-Specialist degrees are professional qualifications obtained through the Colleges of Medicines of South Africa, the same candidates would train further in academic qualifications such as the MMed, MMed Sci and PhD for knowledge and revenue generation for UKZN.
Transformation in the Department of Internal Medicine is severely affected as priority candidates are attracted to other institutions that promise much more conducive environments for training.
Since the beginning of 2015, the Department of Internal Medicine has been reduced from 76 registrars to 30 registrars.
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS: SUB-SPECIALITY
- Clinical supervision and training in the clinical and wards daily.
The Division of Medicine is responsible for the provision of clinical services, academic and professional education and research in Internal Medicine. Functionally our activities are divided amongst the Departments of Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, General Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Nephrology, Neurology, Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine, and Rheumatology. The academic department is situated on the third floor of the Medical School building in Umbilo Road, Durban.
Our clinical services are broadly divided into those at tertiary and quaternary level, provided primarily though not exclusively at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (Durban) and Grey’s Hospital (Pietermaritzburg), and secondary services, based at King Edward VIII Hospital, Addington Hospital, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Prince Mshiyeni Hospital and RK Khan Hospital in Durban, and Edendale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg.
Our undergraduate programme includes the internal medicine modules of the third, fourth and fifth years of the MB ChB curriculum, as well as the facilitation of problem-based learning modules in the earlier years of the programme. Our postgraduate responsibilities are broadly divided into two areas: professional training of registrars and fellows leading to registration as specialist physicians, neurologists and dermatologists, or to certification in subspecialist disciplines such as endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology, pulmonology and cardiology, and supervision of candidates for higher research degrees such as Masters and Doctoral students.