Interuniversity Certificate in Clinical Infectiology and Medical Microbiology
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Theoretical training for level 3 specializations in Clinical Infectiology and Medical Microbiology to obtain the professional titles “physician specialist in Clinical Infectiology” and “physician specialist in Medical Microbiology.”
The Ministerial Decrees of 7 May 2020 determined the special professional titles “physician specialist in Clinical Infectiology” and “physician specialist in Medical Microbiology” together with the recognition criteria and final competencies. In addition to the compulsory internships, as stipulated in the Ministerial Decree, there is a need for theoretical training and an exam that allows the candidates to achieve the final theoretical competencies.
This theoretical training is one of the components required by the Ministerial Decree to obtain the professional title. If participants pass the exam, they obtain the certificate of the program with which they can prove the acquired final competencies for the recognition committee.
Other components (outside the scope of this training) for the recognition: internships carried out within the framework of an internship plan, attending conferences, publishing a scientific article, and other theoretical training that candidates receive to obtain the professional title. The latter involves the Special Training Antibiotic Policy (Bijzondere Opleiding Antibioticabeleid), the course tropical medicine at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, the Master Hospital Hygiene and the certificate in travel medicine from the International Society of Travel Medicine.
This training is mainly aimed at medical specialists and pharmacists and clinical biologists in training who aim for the professional title of Clinical Infectiology or Medical Microbiology. This training with an exam allows them to acquire the final theoretical competencies specified in the Ministerial Decrees on acquiring these professional titles.
In addition, the course is open to all doctors with a specific interest in clinical infectiology and medical microbiology.
If the student has passed the exam, the student can apply for the 'Special professional title clinical infectiologist or medical microbiologist,' partly based on the certificate.
The training is organized by the Faculty of Medicine of KU Leuven in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine of UGent, UAntwerpen, VUB, the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Jessa Hasselt and the collaboration of the Belgian Society for Infectiology and Clinical Microbiology. Lecturers are chosen according to their expertise. The language of instruction is Dutch, but the educational material will be mainly English.
The training runs over one academic year and consists of:
The training comprises 100 weekday teaching hours from September 2024 to May 2025. Students must take into account 200 hours of extra preparation and processing of the subject matter. A written exam will follow the course in May 2025. Attendance of 80% of the lectures is required to take the exam.
Day 1: microbiological diagnostics and antibiotics
Day 2: microorganism, host and antibiotics
Day 3: antibiotic resistance
Day 4: bone and joint infections
Day 5: respiratory infections
Day 6: abdominal infections
Day 7: HIV and post-travel
Day 8: sepsis and (endo)vascular infections
Day 1: infection prevention
Day 2: Skin and soft tissue infections
Day 3: Central nervous system and eye infections
Day 4: urinary tract infections
Day 5: STDs and gynecological infections
Day 6: infections in vulnerable patient groups
Day 7: pediatric infections
Day 8: mycobacterial infections
Day 9: one health, zoonoses and pre-travel
Day 10: fungal infections
Day 11: viral and emerging infections
The complete program and detailed agenda will be available on the website in May 2024.
Candidates can apply for this training via an internet form available from May 2024, with applications to be submitted no later than the 15th of August 2024.
A steering committee will screen and select candidates on the 15th of September 2024. Candidates will be notified in writing whether they are admitted to the program. At that time, they will also receive instructions for online registration as a student from KU Leuven and for the payment of the registration fee.
Please note that the course will only be organised if the minimum number of 15 participants has been reached.
Brigitte Smet
More information can be found on the website of this training.