The main clinical subjects of this semester will be obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, infectious medicine, endocrinology, kidneys and urinary system. The subjects are taught primarily through three types of learning activities:

Lectures

The first week will consist of introductory lectures in all subjects. Each subsequent week will cover separate subjects with corresponding lectures. There will be lectures in the following subjects; endocrinology, breast- and endocrine surgery, radiology/imaging, urology, paediatrics, gynaecology, obstetrics, nephrology, pharmacology, global health and infectious medicine. In addition to this, the students will have macroscopic (organ) pathology and histopathology of the breast, male genital tract, endocrine system, kidney, gynaecological cancer, in addition to placental, foetal- and perinatal pathology. There will also be organ demonstrations and a laboratory course in microbiological diagnosis of urinary tract infection and methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing.

Lectures are optional.

PBL Sessions

Students are assigned to groups consisting of 6 to 8 members who work together in PBL (Problem Based Learning) and attend the same clinical clerkships. The groups meet for a weekly 3-hour PBL session, fascilitated by a clinician from their current clinical clerkship. The PBL work centres on given case studies relevant to the field of medicine covered in the lectures and clinical clerkships.

All PBL-sessions are mandatory.

Clinical clerkship

Every week, each PBL group will be assigned to a department for "clinical clerkship". In the clerkship, students accompany doctors for in- and out-patient visits, physical examination, tutorials and case-studies. The elements of the clerkship vary between departments. 

In addition to the organised clerkship, students may join doctors on call at any time.

Attendance in clinical clerkship is mandatory.

Exam

At the end of the semester there will be a written and an oral exam. The written exam is 4 hours and consist of 100-120 multiple choice questions. The oral exam is OSCE-based (Objective Structured Clinical Examination).

These exams cover all subjects from the semester. Students will need to attend the regular exam at the end of the semester regardless of what they have taken previously (at their home university) if they wish to obtain the 30 ECTS credits for their stay at NTNU.

Students must pass both exams (written and oral) to pass the semester and achieve the ECTS credits.

Please note that we only give one grade for the whole course, and we do not give separate grades to all the subjects in this course.

Please also note: we are currently conducting a revision of the 3rd and 4th year of the medical studies at NTNU. As a result, some subjects move semesters. From autumn 2024, the English semester will consist of the subjects obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics, infectious medicine, rheumatology, dermatology and venereology. We will have more details about this in December 2023.

All clinical rotations are organized through The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and students apply to NTNU as regular exchange students.

Students are not allowed to contact St. Olav's University Hospital in Trondheim to organize clinical rotations on their own.

All students must register for one or more courses each semester to be considered an active student at NTNU.

Who can apply?

Only students from partner institutions can apply for clinical rotations at NTNU/St. Olav's University Hospital. 

Due to limited capacity, NTNU/St. Olav's University Hospital do no longer accept Praktische Jahre students.

Application deadline

Autumn semester: April 1st

Spring semester: October 1st

All applications are processed after the application deadline.

Semester dates

Autumn semester: September 1st to mid-December

Spring semester: Beginning of January to mid-June

Course certificate

At the end of their stay, students can order a Transcript of record for the passed course(s). This is done through Søknadsweb. On request, students may get documentation of which clinic(s) they have attended and the duration of their clinical rotation(s). Further documentation is not offered.

The courses have no exam, only attendance is required. The courses are graded as pass or fail.

Departments that offer clinical rotations to exchange students:

• Surgery
• Internal medicine
• Orthopedics
• Neurology
• ENT (ear, nose and throat)
• Opthalmology
• Oncology
• Rheumatology
• Paediatrics

Students participate in the daily work at the department. There will be no lectures/seminars/exam.

Additional information about clinical rotations

• Clinical rotations are arranged individually for each student outside the regular medical curriculum. The number of available places depends on the capacity in the departments.
• Each student is offered clinical rotations in maximum three (3) departments per semester.
• Clinical rotations must take place within the semester dates. We do not accept any students for clinical rotations during the summer (mid-June to mid-August) or Christmas holidays.
• All clinical rotations must start on a Monday.
• It is preferable that students speak a Scandinavian language. However, English is usually accepted for all departments but Paediatrics. No place is guaranteed until the Faculty coordinator has made all the necessary arrangements with the department. There is limited capacity, and it is not always possible to accommodate all applicants. If you are not accepted one semester, NTNU encourages you to apply again for another semester.

How to fill out your Learning Agreement

In your Learning Agreement, you fill in the course code, subject and preferred start date

Example: