Introduction:

'Elective' is an opportunity to deepen clinical competences and/or work in a different assistance reality and promotes personal curriculum.

Subjects and methods:

A descriptive analysis of the elective internships carried from 2012 to 2017 at the last year of course and compare international and national ones. The students complete an online survey regarding the activities which include demographic, development and outcomes variables.

Results:

253 clinical internships carried out by 154 medical students with a mean age of 28 years and 55% were women. The majority (59%) chosen to carry out international internship, particularly United Kingdom (8.3%) and Brazil (7.5%), and only 11% stayed in Algarve region. Half of the internships were carried out in tertiary hospitals being observational-practical (66%). Until half of students (47%) chose medical specialties not included in official curriculum being preference areas: international health (15%) and anesthesiology (8.3%). The majority of internships (66%) were observational-practical. The students are responsible for all the necessary arrangements, being external financial support practically no existent). The final internship rank student was 4.46, on a scale of 0-5, and 99% would recommend the experience to their colleagues.

Conclusions:

The 'elective' aims to promote students ability to adapt a new professional and social realities, test their competences and sometimes confront themselves with their potential future professional choice.

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