Sesenta años de internado médico en México

The undergraduate medical internship in Mexico was created 60 years ago. Since the very beginning, three problems were identified: 1) contradiction of the official recognition of the intern as a student with the perception of workers regarding the interns; 2) absence of university professors in hospitals, and 3) predominance of assistance activities over the educational process. According to the 2021 survey conducted by the Observatory of Medical Education and Human Rights among interns (n=107) of the Universidad Veracruzana, these problems still occur: 62% of the respondents said that they worked more than 80 weekly hours at the hospital; 87% considered that the hospital teachers do not have proper working conditions to carry out the academic activities, while 92% reported that the assistance activities were essential instead of the academic ones. These problems prevent the medical intern from fulfilling the academic objectives of the medical internship.