Diploma of Specialized Medical Studies (D.E.M.S) in Medicine

Postgraduate training aims to prepare specialist physicians who are competent, committed, and compassionate, capable of meeting public health challenges and adapting to medical advances.

The residency program, which lasts an average of four years, allows physicians in training to specialize in a field that best suits their needs. Upon completion, they are awarded the Diploma of Special Medical Studies (DEMS), granting them access to practice as a specialist physician.

 A diverse training program, built around hospital practice.

Throughout their training, residents operate in an environment that is simultaneously clinical, academic, and personally demanding. Supported by experienced supervisors, they gradually acquire the skills necessary to become independent specialists, capable of making diagnoses, proposing appropriate treatments, performing technical procedures, but also listening, communicating, questioning, and making decisions. Three main pillars of training:

1. Specialized clinical disciplines

These constitute the heart of the training. Whether in internal medicine, pediatrics, Neurology, psychiatry, cardiology, or other specialties, the resident learns to manage complex situations, reason in the face of varied cases, and integrate the biological, psychological, and social dimensions of the patient.

2. Surgical Disciplines

In specialties such as visceral surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and obstetrics and gynecology, training emphasizes progressive mastery of surgical procedures, rapid decision-making in critical situations, and teamwork in the operating room.

3. Basic Sciences: General anatomy, pathological cytology, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, parasitology-mycology, pathophysiology, and clinical pharmacology complete the training. They allow the resident to gain a deep understanding of what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how they can improve.

The residency program trains a new generation of qualified specialist physicians, grounded in the reality of the Algerian healthcare system and ready to meet the needs of a constantly evolving population.

Ø The curriculum is based on three essential pillars:

1. Solid theoretical training.

The resident regularly attends:

Lectures

Clinical seminars

Specialized conferences

Tutorials, as well as critical readings of scientific articles to stay up-to-date on current developments.

Medical advances.

2. Gradual integration into clinical departments.

Trained within university hospitals, residents actively participate in patient care. Beyond knowledge, their training aims to develop physicians capable of supporting patients with rigor, ethics, and humanity.

From the first few months, residents are fully integrated into hospital teams. They learn on the job, managing real-life cases under the supervision of their supervisors:

Ø Active participation in consultations, room rounds, emergency rooms, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, according to their specialty.

Ø Attendance at multidisciplinary staff meetings, case discussion meetings, and therapeutic validation meetings.

Ø Empowerment in decision-making.

3. Rotating internships in different specialized departments.

To ensure comprehensive training, residents complete internships in departments complementary to their specialty.

Dissertations:

At the end of their training, in some departments, residents choose to write a dissertation on a problem encountered during their rotations, with a view to reflecting on, researching, and improving clinical practices.

ü Resident Evaluation in Medicine and Surgery:

Ø At the end of each year, written, oral, or practical exams provide an opportunity to assess the resident's achievements.

Ø The end-of-first-year exam is particularly important: it serves both a ranking function (as it can influence future assignments) and a qualification function (it determines whether or not they will continue their training).

Ø The national final DEMS exam is administered at the end of the program in two sessions: a standard exam and a resit exam. It marks the culmination of the specialization and certifies that the resident is ready to practice as a fully-fledged specialist physician.