[Internship in medical studies].

This article reviews the origin of internship for medical school graduates since the beginning of the last century in France and later in English-speaking countries. In Latin America, though clinical instruction in hospitals was made a part of the last years of training as early as 1920 and 1930, not until the 1950s, did it become a requirement for graduation at most medical schools. The author examines internship in relation to different curricula and describes its use based on the model adopted by the Medical School of Austral University in Chile, where it is considered the time for practical application of the knowledge gained in preclinical and clinical training, and where the student finishes acquiring skills and forms the clinical judgment needed to practice medicine later on. Mentioned as specific aims of internship in connection with clinical instruction are general medicine, the diagnosis and management of the prevailing pathology, the development of basic techniques for clinical examination, laboratory testing, and therapeutic prescription, and the ability to deal with clinical emergencies. Lastly, there is a discussion of a series of procedures used to evaluate performance during the internship stage.