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Studies & Degrees in Clinical Medicine

Clinical medicine is the part of medicine practised with patients: taking a history, examining, ordering and interpreting tests, reaching a diagnosis and deciding on treatment. It is distinguished from the basic or pre-clinical sciences (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology), which explain how the body works and are mostly taught in classrooms and laboratories. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) sums up the work of physicians and surgeons as diagnosing and treating injuries or illnesses and addressing health maintenance.

For a student, "clinical medicine" usually means the second half of a medical degree, spent largely in hospitals and health centres. Some universities also use the name for a department, for a research master's programme or for the medical degree itself.

What students learn

Medical degrees have two phases. According to BLS, students in the United States spend the first phase in classrooms, small groups and laboratories; in the second they work with patients under the supervision of experienced physicians in hospitals and clinics, in clerkships or rotations in areas that include internal medicine, paediatrics and surgery.

Spain regulates the content of the degree by ministerial order. Of the 360 ECTS credits, at least 100 belong to the module on human clinical training (Formación Clínica Humana), which covers recognising, diagnosing and managing the main diseases of each organ system, and 40 to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. A further 60 credits are supervised placements and the final degree project: the placements take the form of a clinical rotation in health centres, hospitals and other care centres, with a final assessment of competences.

At Trinity College Dublin, third year combines taught courses with an extensive programme of clinical placements, and in fourth and fifth year the student becomes an integrated member of each hospital team to which he or she is attached.

Qualifications and levels

  • Medical degree. In Spain the bachelor's degree in Medicine (grado en Medicina) has 360 ECTS credits, six academic years, one of the exceptions to the usual 240 credits that follow from European rules. Trinity College Dublin has a five-year programme. Kathmandu University describes its MBBS as five and a half years: two pre-clinical years, two and a half clinical years and a one-year compulsory internship. In the United States medicine is a graduate course: a medical degree takes four years after a bachelor's degree, and Xavier University School of Medicine (XUSOM) on Aruba follows the same model with a four-year MD programme.
  • Internship and specialist training. The degree is not the end of clinical training. In Ireland, graduates spend one year as an intern in an approved post before becoming fully registered medical practitioners. In the United States a residency lasts from 3 to 9 years, depending on the specialty. In Spain, specialist training is organised by the Ministry of Health as a hospital residency.
  • Master's degree and doctorate. Master's programmes and PhDs in clinical medicine or clinical research are aimed at graduates who want to do research alongside patient care. Ask the university whether the programme is an official degree and what it qualifies for.

Admission

Entry is competitive everywhere and the rules are national. In Ireland, EU applicants to Trinity College Dublin apply through the CAO and must sit the HPAT-Ireland admissions test. In the United States, applicants to medical school usually submit transcripts, scores from the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and letters of recommendation. In Nepal, the entrance test for the MBBS is run by the Medical Education Commission.

Where to study clinical medicine

SpainExchange lists 10 active schools for this subject: two linked to the United States and one each in Spain, Australia, Nepal, Ireland, South Korea, Ukraine, Russia and India. They are the University of Washington in Seattle, XUSOM, the Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (UMH), whose Faculty of Medicine has a clinical simulation centre, Charles Sturt University, Kathmandu University, Trinity College Dublin, Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Bukovinian State Medical University in Chernivtsi, Rostov State Medical University and Era University in Lucknow.

Before choosing a school abroad, check three things: the language used with patients during the clinical years, which hospitals the school uses for rotations, and whether the degree is recognised by the medical regulator of the country where you intend to practise.

Careers

Most graduates go on to specialist training and work as doctors in hospitals, primary care or private practice; others move into research, public health, teaching or the pharmaceutical industry. Practising requires registration or a licence in each country: in the United States, all states require physicians and surgeons to be licensed.

For the United States, BLS projects that overall employment of physicians and surgeons will grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations, with about 22,100 openings a year.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between pre-clinical and clinical medicine?

Pre-clinical teaching covers the basic sciences in classrooms and laboratories. Clinical teaching takes place with patients in hospitals and health centres, under supervision, in rotations through specialties such as internal medicine, paediatrics and surgery.

How long does it take to study medicine?

It depends on the country: six years (360 ECTS credits) in Spain, five years at Trinity College Dublin, five and a half years including the internship at Kathmandu University, and four years of medical school after a bachelor's degree in the United States. Specialist training comes afterwards.

Can I practise in my own country with a medical degree from abroad?

Only if the regulator there recognises the degree, and usually after a recognition procedure or licensing exam. Ask the regulator in your country before enrolling.