Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship with a length of 3 or 4 years are the most common ones. The certificate awarded after successfully completing a 3 or 4-year apprenticeship is called "Certificat Fédérale de Capacité" (), "Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis" (EFZ) or "Attestato federale di capacità" (AFC).
Medical education in France
The boarding school of general medicine lasts three years, and is validated when the whole of the six months training courses necessary were carried out (diploma of specialized studies of general medicine) and it is followed of a thesis of exercise. It consists of six months training courses remunerated, associated with a hospital, but also associated with a general doctor, or of an extra-hospital structure of care. The student takes complete charge of his patients, but still under the responsibility of a “senior” (see supra): this includes clinical examination, regulation of complementary examinations and treatment. Teaching is primarily practical at this stage.