Academic Supervisor : Jacques De Nayer

Contact : Secretary's office for Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine

Tel. 02 764 16 60

President : J. De Nayer

Members: DELTOMBE Thierry, HANSON Philippe, KNOOPS Philippe, LEJEUNE Thierry, MASQUELIER Etienne, NIELENS Henri, PLAGHKI Léon, RENDERS Anne, VANMARSENILLE Jean-Marie. One representative from the "MACCS".

The Selection Committee for candidate specialist assistant doctors (MACCS, in French) is composed of the members of the teaching Committee, to which are added two guest members and two co-opted members.

This complementary master's programme aims to prepare doctors to become officially recognised holders of the specific professional title of Specialist Doctor in Physical and Rehablilitation Medecine (Miniisterial Decree of 20.10.2004, published on 22.11.2004).

• The applicant must hold the degree title of Doctor in Medecine or be a Doctor from a member country of the European Union authorising medical practice in Belgium.
• The applicant must be in possession of a document attesting that, at the end of the selection exams, he was retained as a specialist candidate in Physical and Rehablilitation Medecine, in a Belgian medical faculty.

The juridical context and practical procedures regarding these selection tests can be obtained from the secretary's office.

Degree holders from outside the European Union are only allowed to register on the programme in the context of procuring a university certificate for partially specialised training for the duration of two years (if they are in the process of doing a specialisation in their country of origin) or for an in-depth specialised training course for the duration of one year (if they are already recognised as specialists in their own country).

The Royal Decree of the 30.05.2002, relating to the planning of the medical offer for the public, published on the 14.06.2002, applies to those candidates wishing to obtain the title of Specialist Doctor in Physical and Rehablilitation Medecine (those candidates are thus counted among the general practitioner candidates or specialists in the context of the numerus clausus).

Applications for admission must be addressed to the academic supervisor.

The organisation of the entrance selection tests is arranged in accordance with the calendar and the general examination rules and regulations.

The programme includes full-time apprenticeships in approved services and teaching centres. It lasts at least five years, full-time, and includes at least 4 years of studies dedicated to specific diagnostic techniques and treatment in the domain of Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine, including the socio-professional reintegration of handicapped persons. At least one year is dedicated to various techniques in preparation for the carrying out of neurophysiological examinations.

The practical training project, established by the university promoter, must be approved by the ministerial validation committee for the speciality. These apprenticeships include being on call.

N.B. the candidate will need to accomplish a one-year work experience period abroad, in a service approved by the Committee for Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine, or in a research laboratory, preferably in the third or the fourth year of studies.

Parallel to the practical training, the candidate specialist will follow a university course organised as follows :

An inter-university programme consisting of lectures on differents subjets relating to Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, covering the diagnoses and evaluation of injuries, disabilities and handicaps and physical and rehabilitation medical treatments for locomotor aid where the aetiology is traumatic, orthopedic, rheumatic, neurological, congenital or linked to internal pathology. These studies must prepare the "MACCS" for the knowledge of rehabilitation in children and adults as much on a functional as on a social and professional level (including pain treatment and rehabilitation). To this is added a complementary training session in the domain of pulmonary and/or cardiac rehabilitation. The inter-university sessions amount to 30 hours a year, 4 hours of which are on algology.

An intra-university course consisting of :

• Supervised practical exercices (30 hours per year).
• Attendance of the Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine lectures linked to the approved apprenticeship periods. (see subjets within the different domains of Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine linked to the above speciality), to be certified in the training report notes (30 hours per year).
• Attendance, each year, of lectures in other specialities (neuro-locomotor, radiology, cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation and pediatric rehabilititation, also including 10 hours of algology (anaesthestics, psychiatry, etc..) to be certified in the training report notes (30 hours per year).

The theoretical sessions of the first two years form part of the specific university training programme (FUS, in French).

After the first 2 years, the " MACCS" will continue his studies including, among other activities :

• Attendance of further training seminars in Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine (to be certified in the course report notes).
• Attendance of national and international scientific meetings.
• Active annual participation in at least one intra-university seminar.
• The writing of a scientific article to be presented at the end of the 4th year and accepted for publication as the principal author in the 5th year, either for a journal with a peer review representative of the speciality or an annex speciality (orthopaedics, neurology, rheumatology...), or indexed in the Medline. In the case of a journal not indexed in the Medline, prior approval must be obtained from the academic supervisor of the master's programme.
• The teaching Committee recommends the taking of the European Board exam in the speciality.

Further to the application of the Royal Decree of 16 March, 1999, at the end of the first two years of training, the candidate will apply for an attestation proving that he has successfully accomplished a specific university training course.

The evaluation and final exam are based on :

• the presence and active participation in the lectures on the speciality (see work training notes),
• the presentation of a scientific piece of work before a national or international audience
• the publication of a piece of work with the candidate as the principal author.

In addition, the global evaluation will include the result of the European Board exam for Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine, as well as the evaluation conducted by the different training supervisors on the ability and clinical aptitudes of the candidate to practise Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine.

Upon fulfilment of the above-described training requirements, the teaching committee will award the academic title in Physical and Rehabilitation Medecine.

This title does not replace official recognition by the ministerial validation committee. It attests to the successful completion of an academic and scientific study programme in the context of specialised training leading to this validation.