Faculty of Medicine and Surgery becomes International Centre for Clinical Exam of Royal College of Physicians of UK
Following a 'mock' Pathfinder (Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills - PACES) exam held in October 2015 the University of Malta’s Faculty of Medicine and Surgery was approved as one of the International Centres for this important clinical exam around the world. The first formal session took place at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Mater Dei Hospital, between 1 and 3 April, where 44 doctors, including 6 Maltese doctors sat for the exam.
The MRCP PACES exam is an internationally renowned exam which assesses doctors of at least 2 years’ experience at the end of their core medical training and before embarking on specialisation in a specific area of internal medicine. The exam is very prestigious and until some years back was only held in the UK. It is only recently that a few international centres were approved as being of the adequate standard to set this exam.
Professor Stephen Montefort, Academic Head of Department of Medicine and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta, proposed the possibility of Malta being one of these centres. After negotiations between the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, through Professor Godfrey LaFerla, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, and other senior members of the Faculty, with the Federation of the three Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK, this was agreed upon. Apart from the prestige of hosting this exam for international doctors, Malta has managed to get 10 ‘ring-fenced’ places for local doctors sitting for this exam in Malta without having to go to the UK to do so. Through this endeavor a number of Maltese lecturers/consultants were specifically trained to be able to form part of the examiners of the Faculty thus being able to assess candidates together with the visiting UK examiners.
This first session was very successful and the Royal College of Physicians showed its approval. In fact the next PACES exam is now due in December 2016. It is envisaged that this exam will be held in Malta twice a year.